Hero's Origin
by Davin Sunrider
Summary: Long before the Hero of Twilight's birth, his family set in motion events that would affect his destiny. When Link's father and uncle go searching for their family mines, they find instead puzzling mysteries and a terrible secret. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**Hero's Origin**

One

Approximately twenty years before the events of _The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess_

"So, Leif, what's the Zora village like? I've never been there." Rickard Fenris adjusted the pack on his back as he looked over at his brother. They were walking through the long tunnel from northern Hyrule to Zora's Domain.

Leif Fenris looked back at his younger brother. "I was only there once, but it's a peaceful place. The Zoras are pretty easygoing, but we do have to ask their permission to go to Snowpeak, since the entrance is in their territory."

"We'll have to spend the night here, won't we?" Rickard's pack rattled as he walked, the leather straps creaking with the movement. "I hope they have beds for Hylians. I heard they just sleep in the water."

Leif gave his brother a teasing grin, his dark blue eyes twinkling. "They don't get many visitors, so don't count on it." He laughed at Rickard's groan.

They emerged from the tunnel into a wide hallway, stone on one side, and open on the other, lined by smooth pillars. They were promptly stopped by a Zora wearing a helmet and holding a spear. The easy way the fish-man held the spear let them know he was not threatening them, but if they turned hostile, he knew how to use it.

"Welcome, travelers. What is your business in Zora's Domain?" The Zora's voice was high and musical, and he gestured out at the rest of the village as he spoke.

There were no buildings to speak of, but a magnificent waterfall rumbled down into a wide pool at the bottom of the village, accompanied by several smaller ones. Swirling, curving patterns decorated several places on the cliff sides, and they could see several Zoras swimming or walking below them.

Leif stepped forward. "I am Leif Fenris, and this is my brother, Rickard. We seek permission to enter the Snowpeak Mountains." He made sure he kept his hands away from the sword at his belt. He meant no harm to anyone here, but he had to admit he and his brother looked kind of rough. It had been a difficult journey to get here, and their clothes hadn't been in the best of shape to begin with.

The Zora looked them over for a few moments, his face inscrutable behind his helmet. "All right. I'll take you to the throne room. Follow me."

The aquatic being turned and strode up the path, and the brothers followed him. As they reached the top of the staircase and stepped out into the open, Rickard turned and pointed.

"Hey, you can see the castle from up here!"

"Hyrule Castle is the tallest building in the kingdom. You can see it from almost anywhere." Leif patted his brother's shoulder, gesturing for him to follow.

The Zora tapped his spear against the ground. "This way, please." The fish-man led the way into the throne room, and stopped at the entrance. "Announcing Leif and Rickard Fenris, travelers from Hyrule." He turned to them. "You must ask the King for permission to enter Snowpeak."

The brothers looked across the throne room. It was a long, wide hall, with a pool of deep water in the center. The architecture was smooth and flowing, as if the hall had been carved out with water. There were a number of Zoras in the hall, either sitting on the steps that lined the pool, or standing along the lattice walls that curved around the outer edge of the hall. More guards stood next to the throne at the end of the hall, on which sat a male Zora with a coral-and-gem crown. Next to him stood a female Zora, who wore a gold-and-sapphire necklace.

Leif and Rickard made their way across the hall, stopping and bowing before the throne.

"Rise," said the seated Zora. His voice was deeper than the guard's, but was still musical, as if the aquatic people ordinarily communicated through song instead of speech. "I am King Zora, and this is my Queen, Rutela. What is your business in my domain?"

"We seek permission to enter the Snowpeak Mountains, Your Majesties," Leif said. Rickard nodded silently next to him.

"The mountains are very dangerous. Why do you wish to go there?" Queen Rutela asked.

"We're looking for our family's ancestral mansion. It is said to be in the mountains somewhere." Leif looked up at the Zora royalty as he spoke, making sure his tone was respectful.

"Your second name is Fenris, correct?" At Leif's nod, King Zora continued. "My great-grandfather had dealings with a man called Fenris. His name was… Indrow, I believe. He shipped a substantial amount of lumber and stone up our river, and occasionally sent ore down it. This man was your ancestor, yes?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, Endrew Fenris was my ancestor. You wouldn't happen to know where, exactly, he built his mansion, would you?" Leif asked.

King Zora shook his head. "I do not. I do know that this… Endrew built a road to his mansion, and you may be able to find it. My people do not venture into Snowpeak often, and even then, we never go farther than the frozen river. You may enter, if you wish, but we will not send search parties after you."

Leif bowed. "I understand, Your Majesty. Thank you." He straightened. "We also ask to stay here for the night, if we may."

Queen Rutela smiled. "We are not accustomed to hosting humans, but you are welcome to stay as long as you like. Someone will show you to where you can stay."

The brothers thanked the Zora King and Queen, and followed one of the other aquatic beings out of the throne room. They spent the rest of the day in the village, and not long after dark, went to sleep on the seaweed-stuffed mattresses the Zora provided.

* * *

The next day, the brothers dressed in their warmest clothes and draped their cloaks over their packs. On a warning from the Zora who guided them to the frozen river, they kept the short swords they had brought within easy reach. Both were well trained with the swords, and the brothers were confident they could overcome any obstacle.

They thanked their guide as she turned around and headed back to Zora's Domain, and they looked out at the frozen river and beyond at the rocky white-covered landscape.

"Who would want to live here?" Rickard wondered. "It's so desolate."

Leif nodded. "It's certainly uninviting. Maybe Endrew thought no one would ever bother him out here."

Rickard grumbled. "None of the stories I've heard about him made him sound crazy. But he'd have to be to build a mansion out here."

Leif drew his cloak tighter. It was bitterly cold out here. "Well, come on. We aren't going to find the road by standing around talking. Look for a bridge."

They walked along the frozen shore for a few minutes, trying to spot a bridge under the ice. After a while, Rickard spotted some wood, but it turned out to be part of a boat.

"Say, Leif, this boat looks bigger than that tunnel entrance. How'd they get it here?"

Leif frowned thoughtfully under his scarf. "This river might not have always been frozen. See how it goes off there, to the left? This might join up with Zora's River at some point."

Rickard shrugged. "Well, it can't help us. See, it's broken in half. It's probably why they left it here." Rickard stopped and looked out across the frozen river, and the floes bobbing in the freezing water. "Come on, I think I see a path through the ice. Follow me!" Leif's younger brother boldly leaped from the shore to a large chunk of ice floating in the river, waving for Leif to follow him.

Somewhat more cautiously, Leif jumped onto the ice chunk, waving his arms to steady himself when he almost slipped. The brothers made their way over the frozen river slowly, stopping at the opposite shore.

They looked up at the steep and forbidding slope, but as Leif peered at the snow drifts, he started to see a regular path in places. He pulled his cloak tighter and started up the slope, sinking in the snow almost to his waist at times. Rickard followed, and they were halfway up the first slope in only twenty minutes.

Suddenly, they heard a low growling sound. The brothers stopped, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. It seemed to be coming from under the snow, but Leif wasn't sure. He and Rickard drew their swords, gripping them tightly in their gloved hands.

With a fierce snarl and a spray of snow, a furry white creature leaped out at Leif. Almost without thinking, he slashed, and the dog-like creature fell to the snow with a whimper, staining it red.

Rickard poked it with his sword while Leif looked warily around for more of the things. But none came, and gradually they relaxed a little.

"What is this thing? It looks similar to a wolf, but it looks like it has of ice instead of fur."

Leif kicked the dead monster out of the way. "Must be a Wolfos. Smaller than wolves and not as intelligent. They attack each other more often than they do prey, and so there aren't many of them. I've heard that sorcerers like to make them into their servants, since they're already freakish. Let's hope we don't run into too many more."

Rickard looked at his brother. "What about real wolves?"

"If we don't bother them, they won't bother us. Just stay away from anything that looks like a den, and we should be fine." Leif kept his sword out, just in case.

They made good time up the mountain, and by midday, they were nearing the top of the peak. The brothers had to fight one more Wolfos on their way up, but the wildlife otherwise left them alone. Leif and Rickard spotted a great lumbering snow-bear twice, and both times had to huddle against the edge of the cliff and wait for it to leave. Luckily, it was heading down the mountain, and they were going up, so Leif thought they wouldn't see it again.

It was slower going the closer they got to the peak, because the snow got thicker and thicker, and they had to walk slower to avoid falling through in places. The path got very narrow, and at times they had to press themselves against the cliff to keep on it. The cold sapped their strength, but they were determined to reach the top by nightfall, and so they kept themselves going.

Around four hours after noon, they were almost at the top of the mountain. Leif found a strange stone sticking up out of the snow on a protrusion, and he stopped to clear it off and investigate. The Fenris brothers swept the snow away from the stone, and examined it in detail. It was about three and a half feet high, with a perfectly circular hole in the middle. Around the hole was carved another circle, making it look like an eye. There were three triangular markings on top of the circle, and underneath it stretched a mark that looked like a teardrop. Leif thought he heard a faint noise coming from the stone, but Rickard insisted that he didn't hear anything.

"Who put this here?" Rickard asked. "Is it a marker to show the way to the mansion?"

Leif shook his head. "I don't think so. The Fenris crest doesn't look like this. It looks more like two swords crossed over a winged shield. I don't know what this symbol is."

"Well, there's not much point in looking at it any more. It's starting to get dark already, so let's find a cave or something. I don't want to be out here at night." Rickard kicked some snow at the stone and turned around, but Leif remained standing there, looking at it a while longer.

He didn't know why, but the symbol seemed very familiar to him. He was certain it was making a faint noise, a pattern that rose and fell in pitch.

"Come on, Leif! I'm freezing out here! Let's build a fire or something!" Rickard called to him.

Leif broke away from the stone, deciding to investigate the symbol when they returned to Hyrule. Rickard was standing in snow up to his knees next to a hole in the cliff that was almost covered in snow. He was gingerly poking the hole with his sword, making sure an animal hadn't claimed it.

"This opens out further inside," Rickard told his brother, "but I can't make much out. This looks like a good place to stop for the night, if there isn't anything in there."

The brothers cleared the snow away from the hole quickly, shoving it aside so they could see in. Rickard, who was smaller, crawled in first, his sword out in front of him. Leif heard him stomping on stone, and he heard Rickard call for him to come inside.

Leif looked around the small cavern they found themselves in. It looked like it had been carved out and was not naturally occurring. This was reinforced by the ladder in a small niche running up the back wall. There was also a torch post, and a block of frozen ice sat in one corner of the small cave. Leif could dimly see another post inside it. Rickard was attempting to light a fire in the torch post with his matches, and before long, he succeeded, a crackling blaze spreading heat through the cave.

Rickard sat down next to the torch, shrugging off his pack and setting against the wall. "I think this means we've found the road, eh, Leif?" Rickard grinned at his brother. "Plus, I don't think anything lives in here, so we're probably safe for the night."

Leif set his own pack down next to his brother's. "Unless a Yeti comes in." They both laughed at this. Everybody knew Yetis weren't real. They were just a myth conjured up by overly imaginative travelers.

They resisted the urge to see what was up the ladder until they had warmed up a bit next to the torch.

"So, what do you think we'll find in Endrew's mansion?" Rickard asked. "I hope some maps of the mines, or at least something to tell us where they are."

Leif shrugged. "I don't know much about the mansion itself. All I know is Randall Fenris abandoned it about a hundred years ago after he lost all his money."

Rickard looked over at his brother. "How did Randall lose his money, again? I know he irritated the King somehow, but I never paid much attention when Father told his stories."

Leif smirked. "You should have. Those stories are the reason we're here. Now I'm glad you're not trying this by yourself."

His brother gave him an exasperated glare. "It was your idea. You fell for that line Father spun about us being descended from a Hero, and you thought we should go off and find the mansion ourselves. Never mind that we're not mountain climbers or soldiers. We raise horses for a living!"

Leif looked at Rickard with a grin. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Rickard smirked back. "It went numb a few hours ago, along with the rest of my extremities. Now, are you going to tell me, or not?"

The elder Fenris sat up straighter as he remembered the stories his father had told him when they were children. "Well, I assume you know about Endrew Fenris and how he got rich off the mines he made in these mountains?" Rickard nodded and Leif continued. "That's good. I had hoped you were paying at least that much attention to Father." Leif grinned as Rickard rolled his eyes and he continued.

"Anyway, after Endrew built his mansion in the mountains, our family was one of the wealthiest in Hyrule for several generations. Then came Randall Fenris. From what Father showed me of his surviving business records, Randall was not a very smart man. Even before he insulted the King, he was running the business into the ground."

Rickard rubbed at his upper lip as the snow in his beard melted. "I knew that. I was just wondering _how_ he insulted the King."

Leif thought for a moment. "I'm not sure. Whatever it was, it was bad enough for the King to decree that no one in Hyrule buy from him. Obviously, Randall lost a lot of money very quickly, so he moved out of the mansion and disappeared with what was left of the family fortune."

"And that's why we raise horses instead of living like princes," Rickard scoffed. "If I could meet him, I'd have a few things to say to him."

"Except for the fact that he's probably been dead for ninety years," Leif pointed out.

Rickard smiled wryly. "Well, there's that. But, the mines still had plenty left in them when they were abandoned, didn't they?"

"That's what Father said. Before he died, he told me that if we could find the mines, our family would be rich again." Leif leaned back against his bag, putting his hands behind his head.

"It's not so bad, raising horses." Rickard stood and walked over to the ladder. "But having all that money wouldn't be too bad, either, am I right?"

Leif put his cloak back on as he stood, also. "You're right. But, I want my children to have more than we did when we were growing up."

Rickard smirked at him. "You don't have any children, yet. You only got married last year. Speaking of Nomi, I wish she was here. I could use some of her cooking right about now." He patted his stomach for emphasis.

"I wish she could have come along, too, but someone had to stay behind with the ranch. I don't trust that hand you hired as far as I can throw him." Leif crossed to the ladder and paused by it.

His brother rolled his eyes. "Yes, we all know your opinion of Hingo. But, he can ride a horse like nobody's business, so that's why I hired him." Rickard gestured up the ladder. "Shall we see what else is in here? We've got a couple hours to look around, I think."

They headed up the ladder and looked around the next room in the cavern. It was quite a bit larger than the previous room, and they could see another ladder at the far end. There were a number of ledges, almost like giant steps, that lead up to the ladder, and there were several crates and boxes scattered around the cavern.

Rickard opened one of the boxes, and he turned to show Leif a fistful of rocks. "I'd say these are from the mines, though I'm surprised that there's anything left after a hundred years."

Leif looked at the box Rickard had opened more closely. "There's no way this box is a hundred years old. I'd say someone else was still mining after Randall left."

Rickard dropped the rocks back into the crate. "Maybe some of the workers came back up here and were mining on their own. All this stuff still looks pretty old, though. I don't think anyone's been here in a long time."

Leif yawned. "Well, I'm pretty tired from the climb, so I say we leave the rest of this for tomorrow. I'm going to sleep." He started back down the ladder and rolled out his cloak, taking a blanket out of his pack and resting his head on his bag.

Rickard stayed up a little while longer, looking around in the cavern, but eventually, he too retired, resting up for the climb tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning, The Fenris brothers looked around in the cavern some more, taking two pickaxes with them after testing the tools to make sure they were still useable.

They hiked up the rest of the cavern, ascending the ladder in the back of the second room, and finding a stone door at the very top. With effort, they rolled it aside and stepped out into the cold mountain air once again.

Leif and Rickard found themselves on a small icy plateau that swept up to a small hill with a frozen tree growing on one side. The brothers struggled through the deep snow up to the tree, pausing against it to look down at the rest of the mountain. This area seemed to be the highest part of this mountain, and they could see for miles in all directions. The mountains, covered in snow and ice, reflected a wide array of colors in the early morning sunlight.

Rickard whistled. "I wish I had a picto-box right about now. What a view!"

Leif nodded. "It's certainly impressive. If it wasn't so cold, I'd stay here and look longer. But, we have a ways to go still, so let's go." He turned away and looked down, searching for the remains of the old road.

When he finally spotted it, it was long and winding, ducking around outcroppings and occasionally disappearing in places. It was solidly constructed, and had stood up to the ravages of time fairly well, but almost a century of snowstorms had either eradicated or covered most of it, and it was little more than an outline in places.

The Fenris brothers made their way down the mountain, keeping to what was left of the road, and they came to a rickety wooden bridge, which was falling apart and covered in ice. There were gaps in it that would have to be jumped over, and they approached it slowly.

Rickard got up a running start and leaped over the gaps without slowing, like jumping hurdles in a race, and he skidded to a stop on the ice of the other side. Leif was frankly astonished that he didn't slip on the ice, and he approached the obstacle more carefully.

Leif jumped over the first gap and slowly made his way over the creaking wooden bridge, carefully avoiding any unstable areas. As he walked, he thought it pure dumb luck that Rickard hadn't put his foot through one and fallen off. He jumped over the second gap, and the third, and finally made his way to the end, where his brother stood.

Rickard's face was covered by a scarf and his hood, but the teasing in his voice made it obvious that he was smiling. "Took you long enough. The only way you'd have gone slower was with a broken leg."

Leif raised his eyebrow at this. "It was a miracle you didn't fall off. You'd probably still be falling if you had. Did you see the next part of the road while you were waiting?"

Rickard nodded. "It's through there. See how it slopes down real sharply and then straightens out? The road picks back up down there, and then it curves off to the right after that arch there."

The elder Fenris looked strangely at his brother. "You can see all that from here?"

The younger sibling shook his head. "I brought my Hawkeye." He held the item up for his brother to see.

Leif shrugged. "All right then. Let's go."

As they made their way down the mountain, following the road, Rickard remarked that their journey would have been made easier with a sled.

Leif replied as they passed through a frozen copse of evergreen trees. "Except you don't know how to ride one."

Rickard scoffed. "That shouldn't stop anybody. All it would take is a few minutes to figure out how to balance and control the slide. There aren't any sharp turns here, and it's all pretty much open."

"I'm sure everyone would be able to figure it out that quickly," Leif commented dryly. "It wouldn't be any trouble at all!" He chuckled as Rickard frowned at him under his scarf.

As the day began to draw to a close, they came to the curve that Rickard had spotted earlier, and they talked about stopping for the day as they made their way around it, but suddenly, Rickard stopped and grabbed his brother's arm.

"Leif, look at that!" Rickard thrust out his arm in front of him pointing ahead.

Leif looked up, and he saw it. Off in the distance, through the fog and the swirling snow, was the unmistakable outline of a building.

As if on cue, the fog parted, revealing the once-grand manor they had been searching for. The most noticeable feature was the great domed tower that dominated the structure, surrounded by the walls of the mansion.

"It looks like a fortress," Rickard commented. "See how it's on that plateau there, with drop-offs on all sides?"

Leif nodded. "It looks like the only way to get in is from the front." He looked up at the sky, attempting to judge how much daylight they had left. "I think we can get there before dark, don't you?"

His brother stretched his arms, some of the snow on his cloak falling off. "Probably. Let's go." Rickard started off down the road, his pace noticeably quicker than before.

They were both excited to have found their objective so quickly. They had thought it would take at least four days of searching to find the manor, but since they had found it now, it shaved precious time off their journey, which meant they now had more time to explore Endrew's mansion and discover its secrets.

The Fenris brothers made good time down the rest of the slope, and just as the sun was setting, the cloudy gray sky lighting up with brief streaks of color, they finally stumbled out of the snow and onto the small stone courtyard in front of the massive building.

They spent a few moments stomping the snow off their boots and shaking it off of their clothes as they looked up at the home their ancestors had built and lived in for generations.

The brothers shared a brief excited look before ascending the steps and opening the door, stepping inside.

* * *

Author's Note: This story originated as I was exploring Snowpeak Ruins in 'Twilight Princess' but I forgot about it until I played that part of the game again recently. I was going to just sum it up in my other Zelda story, 'The Fourth Piece', but the ideas I came up with were just too interesting to not make into a full story. This will be short, probably not more than seven chapters of about this size, but I hope you like it. Also, this will tie into 'The Fourth Piece' in the future, so I recommend reading that story if you like this one. Please tell me what you think, and thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Two

"What a mess!"

Rickard Fenris' exclamation echoed slightly in the still, cold air of the cavernous entry hall. It was true, too. The mansion had been abandoned for a hundred years, and it looked like it. There were huge, gaping holes in the ceiling, smashed in by a tremendous snowstorm and worsened over the mansion's century of emptiness.

Areas of the entry hall were coated with slick ice, and as the brothers moved forward, they looked around at the room they were in. The hall was long and wide, with a grand staircase on either side, leading up to the second floor. The right-hand staircase was broken and unusable, but the left one was still intact.

Leif stopped and looked at his brother. "Where shall we start?"

Rickard climbed the intact staircase to a large painting that had fallen at some point, and lay face-down on the stairs. He slowly raised the painting up and leaned it against the wall. Leif came over to look.

Rickard gently brushed some of the frost off the picture with his gloved hand. "Endrew Fenris, I think. He's awful grumpy-looking, don't you think? Must be because he lived in the freezing mountains instead of Castle Town with the rest of the nobility." Rickard stood next to the painting and attempted to imitate Endrew's unsmiling expression.

Leif chuckled and reached out a hand to touch the portrait of his ancestor. "It's in pretty good condition, considering. If we clean it up, we can probably hang it back up at some point." He stepped over to another painting that was leaning against the wall, the lower part of the frame splintering from when it had landed. He brushed the frost off part of the picture, and found himself looking at a portrait of a noblewoman with striking blue eyes, similar to his own, dressed in a style from the same period as Endrew's picture. He concluded it to be Endrew's wife, and he and his brother's multiple-great grandmother.

As the brothers looked around the hall, they found a few more paintings stacked under the stairs, but decided to leave them and continue their explorations.

They opened the next door they saw, which led into a sitting room, small in comparison to the entry hall, but still almost bigger than their house on the ranch. This room was almost completely intact, with no holes in the ceiling, but the furniture was strewn about the room, almost none of it upright. There were several bookshelves along the walls, still mostly full of books. Some of the books lay on the floor, Leif thought that the room looked searched, though he could be wrong.

Leif picked up one of the books, gingerly, and took off his glove to turn the pages. This volume seemed to be a Fenris genealogy, ending with Randall Fenris. It did not list Randall's children, nor did it mention him being married. The entry had apparently been updated not long after his birth, and stopped. Leif held up the book and looked over at his brother.

"Hey, look, a genealogy. Let's see which Hero we're related to."

Rickard was tossing pieces of a broken chair into the cold fireplace, and after starting a blaze with his matches and some loose stuffing, a crackling fire soon spread heat through the room. Rickard took off his pack and set it down near the fireplace.

"Okay. Open it up." Rickard righted two of the chairs and set them near the fire, sitting down in one. "I bet it's the Hero of Time. That's what Grandfather said."

"Father wasn't sure about that," Leif said, looking up from the book at his brother. "He said the family stories didn't say which Hero it was."

Rickard gestured at the book. "Well, you've got the proof right there. What are you waiting for?"

Eagerly, Leif opened up the book, turning to the first page.

"Oh, here we go," he said, tapping the first name. "The family started with Lord Link Fenris, 'Given that name and title by Her Royal Majesty, Zelda Nohansen Hyrule, in recognition of his valiant efforts in the service of the Sovereign Nation Hyrule, and its Royal Family, in time of direst need.' Apparently, this was the Hero we're descended from, and Endrew was his son. It doesn't say what happened to Link, and there's no death date for him." Leif looked closer at the writing on the page. "There isn't a birth date for him, either. It just says he played an instrumental part in saving Hyrule, -it doesn't say what from- and that he was rewarded for his efforts, settled down and had a family.

"Endrew used his father's money to finance opening his mines, and he must have either been incredibly smart or incredibly crooked, because it says in his little biography here that he tripled the family fortune in five years, and he died the richest man in Hyrule."

Rickard scratched his chin. "Huh. I thought for sure we were related to the Hero of Time somehow."

Leif turned the pages of the book quickly but carefully, but he did not find another mention of a Hero in the text.

"I guess Grandfather was wrong. Sorry, Rickard." Leif suddenly thought of something. "When we get back to Hyrule, we can look Link Fenris up in the city archives. Maybe we can find out what he was the Hero of, and who or what he fought."

Rickard smiled. "It must have been something, since they don't hand out that 'Hero' title arbitrarily."

Leif carefully wrapped the genealogy up in a scarf and tucked it into a pocket of his pack. He would take care with this, since this was one of the few remaining proofs of his family's noble heritage.

"I say we use this room as a base for exploring the rest of the house, since it's mostly intact." The younger Fenris rubbed his face vigorously and stood, shaking out his cloak and scattering snow and ice everywhere to slowly melt into the carpet.

"I agree." Leif set his feet next to the iron grating in front of the fireplace.

Rickard sat back down and leaned back, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. "I want to explore more, but my muscles severely disagree. That was a rough climb today. I think we better call it a day, Leif. This place has been here for two hundred years, and it ain't going anywhere anytime soon."

"Couldn't have put it better myself." Leif grunted with effort as he eased his boots off of his tired feet. The brothers rolled out their sleeping gear on either side of the fire and climbed inside. As was his ritual while he was away, Leif took out his small pictograph of his wife and kissed it before putting it back in his inner pocket and falling asleep.

* * *

The brothers rose early the next morning, and cooked a simple breakfast of frozen sausages over their fire.

Rickard eyed his meal with faint distaste. "Now I really wish we'd brought Nomi along. I don't know if I can take another week and a half of this."

Leif bit into his sausage, having to gnaw on it for a few seconds to separate his bite. "I know what you mean."

After they finished their breakfast, the brothers emptied out their packs and sorted the various supplies into neat piles, making room for anything valuable they might find in their exploration of their family's long-empty home.

They started with the room next to the sitting room, which turned out to be a kitchen, complete with giant cauldron and sink. There were boxes and boxes of frozen food supplies in this room and the next, enough to last an army months. Even if they were almost a century old, they were of the non-perishable sort and probably still edible, having been frozen almost the entire time. Leif began to calculate plans as he looked through the crates. A small team of laborers; his brother, himself, and perhaps fifteen or twenty more men, could live off these supplies until they got the road fixed up enough to get regular deliveries through Zora's Domain.

Assuming they found maps to Endrew's mines in the mansion, they could optimistically have them up and running again within a year, and start making profit maybe a few months after that. There were endless possibilities, and the means were within his grasp, right here in this building.

He looked up at his brother, and he could tell Rickard had been thinking the same thing.

"Let's look for an office or something first. Those maps are our first priority. We need to find the mines if we're going to make this work." Leif closed the lid of the crate and started for the chamber's other door.

The brothers decided against splitting up to cover the manor faster, since they might run across unstable areas or holes in the floor.

It took them most of the rest of the day to work their way through the manor, giving each room a cursory examination before moving on. Over the next few days, they planned to systematically examine each room, carefully going through all contents before going back to Castle Town.

The only real problem they encountered that day was a pack of Wolfos that had taken up residence in the central, open-air courtyard of the manor. Their only clue something was wrong was a low growling, seeming to come from under the ice and snow all around them.

The brothers drew their swords and stood back-to-back, falling into defensive postures. The first monster attacked from Rickard's side, springing at him with a spray of snow and a fierce growl.

He met the monstrous creature with his blade, and three slashes later, it lay motionless on the ground.

There was no time to rest, since four more of the monsters attacked the brothers simultaneously, and they moved their swords with practiced speed, dodging and slashing until the wolf-like creatures lay in still heaps on the ground around them. Leif noted several large mounds of snow on the ground around them, and watched them carefully, in case more of the creatures should leap out.

The brothers stayed alert for a few more moments, looking around for more enemies, and when none presented themselves, they sheathed their blades and moved through the door at the far end of the courtyard.

Leif and Rickard looked around at the room, and wondered at its purpose. It was circular, but with two walls of iron bars dividing the room into thirds. Beyond the bars, there were dozens of crates and boxes, with several cannons and a few swords and axes.

Rickard let out a low whistle. "I know I said this place looks like a fortress, but this cements it. So much about this place gives me the impression that one of our ancestors expected to be attacked at some point."

Leif looked for a door in the wall of bars to let him in to take a look around. "It was probably Randall's father, Rickard, who you were named for. The Great War was around his time, and the kingdom was pretty much in chaos then."

Rickard's brow furrowed. "Wasn't that when Ganondorf invaded?"

The elder Fenris shook his head. "No, that was a few years after the Great War. Records are kind of spotty from back then, and there isn't one established series of events. According to some, Ganondorf offered his aid to the King during the Great War, and once the King trusted him, he turned on him and took Hyrule for himself after the war was over. Of course, there's the other side of that argument that says Ganondorf and the Gerudo didn't leave their desert during the Great War, and Ganondorf just waited for the King to stabilize Hyrule before he invaded."

"And he ruled Hyrule for seven years before he was defeated by the Hero of Time. I've heard that part of the story. Everyone has." Rickard idly kicked one of the metal bars, eliciting a ringing noise.

"Of course. The Hero of Time is one of the more famous ones, and practically everyone knows about him. But, you can't forget about the other Heroes, since they were all chosen by the gods, too. What they did isn't any less important, just because they're not as well-known." Leif continued to look around the room, looking for a way in to inspect the cannons.

Rickard looked at him strangely. "You sure inherited Father's love for history. You ought to be a historian instead of a horse rancher."

Leif smirked back at him. "Well, you got Mother's sense of humor." Their mother had had a penchant for thinking up complicated jokes that ended in awful puns, which the boys always groaned at but thoroughly enjoyed.

Rickard grinned. "One of us had to. Hmm, how did her favorite one go? I think it started 'The King's gardener was walking through the palace one day, when he came upon a giant…'"

Leif held up his hand. "I've heard that one enough times, thank you. Let's keep going."

They left the armory and headed into the next room, which didn't have much of anything in it. There were a few more suits of armor, and more swords and axes, as well as a few shields hung on the wall. The brothers saw nothing of immediate interest, so they left, intent on at least seeing the rest of the mansion today.

The only way out was back through the armory, so they walked back to the courtyard and looked around. There were several doors they could see, but more of interest was the tower.

Rickard shaded his eyes as he looked up at the massive tower. "I'll bet you a hundred Rupees there's something valuable in there. It's completely intact, see, and the door is closed. Let's find a way up there."

Leif looked along the outer wall from the tower, and saw that the stone walkway was broken in several places, one of them being close to where the tower was. Leif peered closer at this area, and he started off through the accumulated snow. He stopped at a broken window and climbed through, looking up at the broken stone ledge.

"Rickard," he said, "If you stand on my shoulders, I bet you can get up there. Then you can lower me a rope and I'll climb up." Leif interlaced his fingers and held them out for his brother to step on.

Rickard grumbled as he climbed up on his brother's back. "We're putting a ladder here or something if we ever fix this place up. I'm not doing this again."

Leif grunted as Rickard's boots dug into his shoulders. "Tell me about it."

He felt the weight lessen as Rickard pulled himself up onto the ledge. Leif rubbed his shoulder and groaned. "How many bricks do you have in your pack?" he called up to his younger brother.

Rickard's face appeared over the ledge, a puzzled expression on his face. "I don't have any bricks in my pack."

Leif exaggeratedly stretched his shoulder as he grabbed the rope Rickard lowered. "Doesn't feel like it." He grinned as his brother mock-scowled at him.

As they walked up the gently sloping, spiraling walkway to the tower, Leif and Rickard looked around at what they could see of the second floor. Like the rest of the manor, it was partially smashed, and several rooms were open to the freezing air. Leif thought that they would be more treacherous, with more ice and greater possibility of collapse. The wood in this place had only supported itself for a hundred years, and they would have to be careful to not fall, since neither of them were trained healers, and the nearest one was dozens of miles from here.

If something happened to either one of them out here, it would be the end. It was a sobering thought.

Rickard stopped and pointed out a slumped shape against the door of the tower. "Well, this proves we're not the first to come looking for treasure here. Who do you think this is?"

Leif looked the frozen corpse over. It was a largish human man, with blond hair and wide-open, glassy brown eyes. He had an eerie, grim smile set into his frozen features, which Leif found oddly disturbing, combined with the open eyes. The warrior was heavily muscled, and wrapped in roughly made fur and leather garments. Ominously, he appeared not to have frozen to death, but had an arrow in his chest, surrounded by frozen blood. He had obviously been dead for quite some time, preserved by the cold, but Leif thought it curious that the eyes were still intact. The elder Fenris would freely admit that his knowledge of decomposition was probably lacking, but he thought the eyes were the first thing to go when a body returned to its baser elements.

Rickard touched his arm and pointed out another body laying a little further away. This one clutched a bow in its frozen fingers, probably the same one that had loosed the arrow that mortally wounded the other corpse. But, it seemed the other man had had his revenge, since a sword protruded from the chest of the archer. The archer was a smallish Hylian, clothed all in black and bearing an odd insignia on the back of one of his gloves. Upon closer inspection, the insignia was the same as the one on the stone the brothers had found further down the mountain. What hair was still left on the body was a silver-gray color, incongruous with his young-looking features.

Rickard carefully pried a key out of the larger man's icy grip, comparing it to the lock on the door. "What happened here? Who are these people?"

Leif shook his head. "I have no idea. They don't look like miners or servants, or really anybody who would be here. They look more like soldiers, especially the archer. He's definitely Hylian, though his uniform doesn't look familiar."

The younger Fenris gently nudged the fur-and-leather clad swordsman away from the door, grimacing. "He looks even less familiar. Where is he from? I've never seen clothes like his before. He looks like he belongs up in the mountains, though, with all these furs on."

"You're right." Leif stood there looking at the frozen warrior for a few moments before he continued. "This is probably wrong, but there could be a tribe of humans up here, and whatever force this archer belonged to was sent up here to do… something, and found these humans in here already. See, you can see a few more bodies down there." Leif pointed down to the courtyard, where there were several mounds of snow, more than one of which had a boot or an arm sticking out. One body had been half dragged out by an animal, and was wearing a similar uniform to the archer, all in black.

Rickard frowned. "How long would you say they've been here? Definitely not a hundred years, or even fifty. I'd be surprised if this happened more than a few months ago."

Leif nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm. You're probably right. But how did they get here? The Zoras said no one ever goes into Snowpeak, and they would have remembered a force this large passing through their domain. Even more pertinent, what were they doing up here?"

Rickard held up the key and nudged the frozen fur-clad swordsman with his boot. "Well, this fellow died trying to get into this room, so what do you say we find out what he was after? Must be something good, for him to get killed over it."

Leif frowned. "I don't know if 'good' is a word I'd use."

He looked down at the archer, and removed a small dagger with the eye insignia inscribed in the blade, tucking it into his belt. He would definitely be researching this symbol when he returned to Hyrule.

Rickard fitted the key into the lock, and lifted the door up. He only had to pull up a little, and a hidden mechanism lifted the door the rest of the way. The brothers stepped inside to find a sumptuously appointed bedroom, with a grand ceiling stretching the rest of the way up the tower. Beautiful crystal windows formed a ring around the upper part of the tower, letting sunlight stream in and practically setting the place aglow.

There was a large canopy bed on the right side of the round room, with other chairs, tables, and dressers positioned throughout the chamber. Nothing looked touched, and there was the distinct possibility that no one had been in this room since Randall Fenris, since many valuable-looking items were in plain view and undisturbed.

Leif immediately crossed to a desk and started opening drawers, while Rickard dashed about the room excitedly, putting gold and jewels into his pack. He opened up a jewelry box and held up a gold-and-diamond necklace for his brother to see.

"Look at this, Leif! Just this will pay for repairing the road here. And there are three more just like it in here, not to mention all the other stuff! We're rich!"

Leif held up an item of his own, grinning. "And we're about to get richer. Look, it's a map of the mines. They're all under the mansion! That must be why this place was so heavily guarded. Endrew must have built his house over the mine entrance so he could guard it, _and_ keep an eye on his workers."

Rickard's brow furrowed. "I didn't see anything that looked like a mine entrance anywhere in the mansion. Where did they ship the ore from?"

Leif carefully spread the old map out on the desk and motioned his brother over to see. "Look here. It says that there was a small processing building near the entrance to the mansion, and underneath it is a tunnel network that goes all through the mountain. There was worker housing, smelting facilities, processing rooms, all underground. That's pretty smart, actually. If there's only one or two entrances to the tunnel network from aboveground, it makes it harder to steal from the mines and easier to guard them."

"But what if there was a cave-in? Everyone would be trapped down there." Rickard looked the map over, looking for another exit from the mines. But there wasn't one. The only entrance on the map was the one next to the mansion.

Leif tapped the spot on the map. "This must be that little plateau we passed on the way in, with the spiral ramp up it. I thought that looked artificial. We'll have to dig through the snow to find the entrance, since the building seems to have been eradicated."

Rickard looked up at the rest of the desk, and reached past him to pick up a small book bound in green leather sitting near the map. He opened it and leafed through the pages. "Hey, it's a diary. Who does it belong to? There isn't a name I can see in here."

"Let me see." Rickard handed Leif the diary, and the elder Fenris turned to the inside cover. "Oh, here it is. Lonathan Fenris. That name doesn't sound familiar. Let's look in the genealogy."

The brothers sat down in two of the chairs and looked through the genealogy for Lonathan. When they found the name, he turned out to be either Randall Fenris' great- or great-great-grandfather, since both were named Lonathan.

"What that make him to us, Leif? How many greats is it?" Rickard looked up at his brother.

Leif shrugged. "A lot." He looked through the diary for a moment, and froze when he saw an unexpected word on one of the pages. He looked again, read the paragraph around it, and he must have paled, because he felt Rickard shaking his arm.

"Hey, what is it?"

Leif took a deep breath and started reading out of the diary as an explanation.

"_'The slaves are getting restless again. Ever since word spread to them of the cave-in in mine three, they've been refusing to go in, and not even hanging one in the courtyard scared them into going. They haven't been this openly defiant since a hundred of them escaped twenty years ago. My father had to kill thirty good workers to scare the rest of them into submission, and I hope I don't have to take similar action. Production cannot be allowed to stop_.'"

The brothers looked up at each other, horrified. The royal family had abolished slavery in Hyrule four hundred years ago, well before Endrew Fenris' time. All workers and servants were required by law to be paid at least something, and the notion that their ancestors had been keeping illegal slaves was disturbing, to say the least.

Rickard rubbed his chin, an uncharacteristic frown settling across his features. "I guess we know how Endrew got rich so fast. He didn't pay his workers."

Leif frowned, also. "We don't know if this started with Endrew or not. Being a Hero's son, I wouldn't think he would do something like this."

"I wouldn't think anybody would defy the royal family and keep slaves, but there's the proof," Rickard said bitterly.

Leif closed the diary and set it back on the desk, almost afraid of what else it might say. "We learned a lot today. I say we call it a day and explore some more tomorrow."

Rickard scowled, but nodded. "The first thing we're doing is getting rid of all the bodies. Then we should try finding the mine entrance." He glared at the diary, as if expecting it to move on its own and start announcing what other deplorable activities their family had been up to.

Leif nodded. "That's a good idea. We don't have a lot of time on this trip, and we'll need to find proof that the mines are still workable to get someone to finance another expedition. Unless we sell the ranch, we can't afford another trip like this by ourselves."

His younger brother nodded distractedly, still frowning. Leif opened his mouth to say something, but Rickard stomped off to the other side of the room and threw his pack down on the floor, stretching out next to it and appearing to fall asleep immediately.

Leif understood his brother's anger. Lonathan's journal entry had been so casual, and that was what was most disturbing. He couldn't bear to open the diary again to read more, but he was curious as to why his ancestors had chosen to defy the royal decree. It couldn't have been that expensive to hire workers, since the mines were obviously profitable.

And, it would have been difficult to keep the fact that they were keeping slaves from the rest of Hyrule. These mountains may have been remote, and cut off from the rest of the country, but someone would have noticed eventually. A courier could talk to an over-friendly guard, and would then report to his employer that the providers of most of the country's minerals were using slave labor to enhance their profits.

Now that he thought about it, this could have been exactly why Randall Fenris lost the mines. The King could have found out that Randall was using slaves, and decreed that no one buy from him. The reason for the decree would have been questioned, but the King may not have provided an answer, since his word was law and he did not have to explain himself.

Leif Fenris decided that, if he got his family's mines running again, he would not repeat his ancestors' mistakes, and would run the business honorably. His family came from a Hero, the pinnacle of honor and righteousness chosen by the gods to defend the land. It pained him to know that members of his family had disgraced the honor of their forebear, but he would not.

As he drifted off to sleep, Leif decided that if he ever had a son, he would name him Link, after his heroic ancestor, and instill in the boy the proper values, to prevent the atrocities of his ancestors from being repeated by his descendants.

* * *

The brothers started out early, their enthusiasm subdued by the revelations of the previous day. As Rickard suggested, they first found all the bodies and stacked them in the central courtyard, lighting them afire, since the ground was too frozen to dig a grave. There were twelve corpses in all, seven of the black-clothed soldiers, and five of the fur-and-leather garbed warriors.

While they watched the corpses burn, Rickard was moody and silent, glaring angrily into the flames. Leif glanced over at his brother a few times, but he said nothing, his angry scowl now deepened. Once the bodies were consumed, Rickard kicked snow over the ash pile and stomped off to the door without a word, slamming it behind him. Leif sighed as he followed. Rickard had never reacted this severely to bad news before, but the elder Fenris knew from past experience to leave his brother alone and let him work out his problems on his own.

They did not find any more bodies in their further explorations of the mansion, and around noon they braved the freezing cold again to go to the small plateau outside the front door.

The brothers had removed anything of interest from the bodies before burning them, in case anything provided a clue later as to who the two groups of warriors were and why they were in the manor. They left the equipment in the sitting room and continued outside.

Leif and Rickard had found some shovels that were still serviceable, and brought them along to scoop out the snow covering the mine entrance, along with the pickaxes they had salvaged from the cave on the way here.

The brothers ascended the small plateau and set to work. Rickard was still silent, his face absent its usual jovial expression, and with each swing of his tool, he seemed to be striking a foe instead of digging.

Leif looked concernedly at his brother, but again decided not to say anything, wordlessly digging beside him.

It took them two hours of digging through a century's worth of snow and ice to find the entrance to the tunnel network, and another half an hour to clean it up enough to enter. Knowing approximately where it was had helped, but it was still hard work.

Luck was with them when they entered the first chamber of the mines, a small, square room of unpolished stone with timbers supporting the rock overhead. A box of neatly stacked torches sat there waiting for them, among various other ancient mining supplies, and they took several, lighting two immediately and venturing further into the mines.

Several tunnels branched out into blackness, and the brothers chose one at random, glad to note that long-extinguished lamps lined the walls. They lit each one as they passed it, but also periodically made marks on the walls with a piece of white chalk Rickard found.

Surprisingly, the air was not musty, as they had expected, but was instead fresh, like the air before they had come in.

Rickard held his torch as high as he could, and they could see a faint breeze playing with the flame.

"There must be vents or something supplying air here." Leif looked around. "But I don't see any."

Rickard gestured with his torch at something glittering faintly off in the darkness. "What's that?"

Leif paused and squinted at it. It shone with a dull gray light, and it could be any number of things. "Come on, let's go find out. Watch out, though. We have no idea how stable the floors are in here. These tunnels haven't had any maintenance in a long time, so go slow and be careful."

Rickard rolled his eyes at his older brother's caution, but followed as Leif led the way, holding his torch aloft.

Shadows flickered on the walls from the torchlight, making the dull brown walls dance with flashes of orange and yellow, reflecting off water dripping down the wall, as well as mineral deposits.

Rickard chuckled suddenly, and Leif turned to him, surprised. "What?"

"Look at us. We look like adventurers out of one of Father's stories. All that's missing is a damsel in distress." Rickard shifted to a comical falsetto. "Oh, help me, please! I'm in ever so much danger!"

It was Leif's turn to roll his eyes as they continued down the tunnel. He was glad to see his brother joking, though. He hadn't ever seen him like he had been last night and this morning, and he had been worried about him. He did notice the smile slowly turn into a frown again, but again decided not to say anything.

They continued on into the tunnel, not knowing what awaited them. Rickard was right, Leif thought. They _were_ like adventurers out of an old story. He didn't know anyone who still dared to explore the forgotten parts of Hyrule anymore, and it was exhilarating being in a place no one had been in in years.

None of the high and mighty merchants in Castle Town who had refused to sponsor them had ever done something like _this_, he was certain.

Leif and Rickard continued into the mines, eager to see what was ahead.

* * *

Author's note: Sorry this took so long to update, but I was having problems with the story and kept geting distracted to go off and write my other one. Like I said before, I'll prompt in both this story and 'The Fourth Piece' where they tie in. As always, please review and tell me what you thought!


	3. Chapter 3

Three

The long, winding tunnel glowed dully orange in the torchlight, but the brothers could not see more than twenty feet in front of them. Behind, there were orange pinpricks of light from the lamps they had lit to mark the way back. Also, Rickard had been periodically making a mark on the tunnel wall with a piece of chalk he had found, to track their tunnel choices.

The temperature was slowly increasing the further they got into the mines, and the brothers had long since put their cloaks and heavy coats in their packs. They were still sweating, though they thankfully hadn't soaked through their thin undershirts.

Rickard was the first to notice the reason for the heat, and he pointed ahead in the tunnel to a patch of bright orange that seemed to be moving. "What is that? It doesn't look like a torch or a lamp."

Leif made his way towards the light, checking the floor as he went. He was all too aware of the fact that they were deep underground in a forgotten mine, and if they were injured, they probably wouldn't be found for years. He was constantly on the alert for cave-ins, though the mine seemed fairly stable.

When they got to the patch of orange, it turned out to be a lava flow cutting across the tunnel. There was a stone bridge across it, which Leif looked at suspiciously. It didn't look very stable, and he was doubtful it could hold much weight.

He took off his pack and set it down in front of the bridge. "I'm going to try this bridge, though it doesn't look very good. When I make it across, toss me the packs and come across yourself." Rickard nodded and Leif started across the bridge.

He tested the bridge every few feet, and none of it gave beneath his foot, so he was across in only a minute or so. When he got to the other side, he set his torch down and held out his hands. Rickard tossed him both packs in quick succession and jogged across the bridge himself, jumping the last couple of feet.

Rickard grinned broadly, but his smile quickly faded when he heard an ominous crack behind him and the bridge crumbled and fell into the lava.

Leif chuckled quickly and shouldered his pack, starting down the tunnel again and smirking as Rickard paled. "Nice going. Now we can't get out that way."

Rickard looked at the collapsed bridge, and then at his brother. "Maybe _I _wasn't the one who broke it. Maybe you weakened it first, with all of your wife's cooking you're packing around."

Leif laughed and clapped his brother on the shoulder. "You weigh more than I do and you know it. Come on, let's keep going."

Rickard jerked a thumb at the fallen bridge and the lava flow. "Wait a minute. Shouldn't we find a way around that before we go any further? Neither of us can jump that flow, and I don't plan on living down here the rest of my life."

Leif held up the map he had brought with him. "Based on this, I'm not worried about it. There are so many redundant tunnels in here we'll have to try _not_ to go back to the surface until we're ready."

Rickard gestured at the map. "Let's see this thing. I want to know where we're going."

The brothers stretched the map between them, and Leif drew his finger along one of the tunnels. "This is where we are right now. It looks like there's a storage room about a mile down this tunnel, and there might be some processed ore left in there that we can take back with us."

Rickard nodded. "To show to investors."

"Right." Leif rolled the map back up and tucked it into his shirt. "Let's go. It's hot in here, and I want to leave as soon as we can."

Rickard smirked. "So we can freeze again?"

Leif chuckled. "Right."

The brothers set off down the tunnel again, making sure to keep track of their progress. Leif stopped every so often to compare where they were with the map, to ensure they didn't get lost. Rickard jokingly suggested that Leif wasn't worried about getting lost; he just needed an excuse for rest stops.

"No," he replied with a grin, "I'm just concerned about you. You look a little red."

Rickard mock-frowned at him. "We're in a tunnel lit by fire. Everything looks a little red."

Leif chuckled as they emerged into the room he had pointed out on the map.

It was huge, the ceiling stretching up into darkness, with a few stalactites poking down out of the blackness. The far edge of the chamber was probably almost a quarter of a mile away, and the intervening space was filled with hundreds of boxes and piles of stone. This chamber was much drier than the preceding tunnels, but there was still a heavy quality to the air, as if it had not been disturbed in ages.

"Ha-ha! Look at all of this!" Rickard ran out into the chamber, waving his arms. "We're really rich now!"

Leif took off his pack and headed into the chamber himself somewhat more slowly, looking around at the crates and searching for labels. There were none that he could see, though.

Rickard crossed to the closest box and pried it open, sifting through the contents. He pulled out a gold nugget the size of his fist, which he showed to his brother, his eyes lighting up and a broad grin on his face as he looked through the boxes of treasure.

Leif broke open another box, and found it full of dozens of raw sapphires. He put several in his pack, and opened another crate, finding raw iron this time. Both brothers had jubilant smiles on their faces as they opened dozens of boxes, finding valuable minerals or jewels each time.

After a while, Leif stopped and looked at the empty crate they had been tossing a sample of each of the others in. Seeing all the various minerals together made something click in his mind.

"Where did all this come from?"

Rickard set down the crate he had been lifting. "What do you mean?"

The elder Fenris gestured at the crate. "Almost none of this is found close together naturally. How big are these mines? That is, assuming all of this comes from these mines."

Rickard shrugged. "The mines were in operation for hundreds of years. Who knows how big they are? It'll take us months just to get what's in this room out of the mountains. We can worry about the rest of it later."

Leif nodded slowly. He noticed Rickard looking at him strangely. "What?"

His brother shook his head. "I was just wondering where you learned about minerals. That's not exactly useful knowledge to a horse rancher."

Leif shrugged. "Father had a huge library, and I've been going through it since he died. There isn't much else to do when it's too dark to work."

The younger Fenris sat on the crate he had been about to pick up. "Where are you keeping the books? I've never seen them."

Leif let out a disbelieving chuckle. "They're right there in the sitting room on the bookcase. You walk past them every day."

Rickard raised an eyebrow. "Huh. I guess I'm not much into reading, so I didn't look at the bookcase very closely."

Leif chuckled again. "And you call me unobservant."

Rickard shrugged and picked up the crate again, but the bottom broke out, spilling the contents on the ground. He tossed the broken crate aside and bent down to scoop up what had fallen out. From where he was sitting, Leif could see his brother's eyes widen and his jaw drop open.

"What is it?"

"Leif, come here! I'm not sure, but I think these are diamonds!"

Leif hurried over and reached down to pluck a few of the rough, uncut stones from the pile. He shifted them in his palm, and picked one the size of a button to hold up to the light from Rickard's torch.

"I'm not sure, either. We'll have them appraised when we get back to Castle Town." He stood. "Speaking of that, I think it's about time we headed back."

"What, to the manor? We've only been in the mines a few hours, Leif. It's probably not even dark outside yet."

Leif shook his head. "No, to Castle Town. We've got enough to convince an investor that the mines are still viable, and that was what we set out to find. We should get back as quickly as we can so we can make the arrangements to come back with a team of workers. The sooner we get the mines running, the better."

Rickard nodded. He kicked the crate they were storing the samples in. "Let's pick the best out of here, then. I'm not hauling this whole thing back over the mountains, that's for sure. We've got enough to bring back, already."

Leif nodded and they set to work.

After selecting the best (and most valuable-looking) samples from the storage room, the brothers set back to the surface by a different tunnel, this one thankfully free of lava flows or bridges, and were soon forced to don their coats and cloaks again before emerging back out into the snow and ice swirling around the plateau.

The sun, from what they could see of it, was getting low in the sky, so they agreed to go back inside the mansion for now, and set off for Castle Town in the morning.

-

* * *

The sight of the cliff leading to Zora's Domain could not be more welcome to Leif's eyes. He and Rickard had been trapped in the cave near the peak for three days by a blizzard, and they were one day from running out of food.

Back at the mansion, they had been forced to decide what to bring back with them, since they couldn't possibly fit everything in their packs. They'd decided on the best samples from the mine cavern, and the best maps, along with the most expensive-looking jewelry from the bedroom. Leif wanted to return to the mansion as soon as he could, and the more money they had, the more laborers they could hire to help them repair the road and the mansion.

During their time in the cave, the brothers had decided to be cautious about who they revealed the mines to. Leif was certain that some unscrupulous trader would refuse to fund the brothers, after first going along long enough to determine the location of the mines, and then send a team into the mountains to claim them for himself. They had decided on hiring a team of thirty men, and to tell them as little as possible until they were certain they could trust the laborers with the secret of the mines.

The brothers scaled the cliff and stumbled tiredly through the tunnel, pulling off their scarves and hoods when they stepped out into the drastically warmer Zora village.

One of the Zora guards stepped over to them, chuckling as he helped Rickard take off his pack. "We had a bet in the guard over whether you two would come back or not."

Rickard dropped his pack with a clank and shrugged out of his heavy coat. "Did you win?"

The guard shook his head, chuckling again. "Nope. Come on, I'll show you to where you can stay for tonight. Maybe you can tell us about what you found out there."

-

* * *

That night, Leif and Rickard regaled the Zora with their adventures in the mountains, emphasizing the encounters with wildlife and leaving out most of what they had found in the mines, since they figured the Zora would have little interest in that. Were they being hosted by Gorons, the story would have been vastly different.

Leif let Rickard tell the story, only interjecting when Rickard started to exaggerate a little too much. For instance, he interrupted when Rickard began to tell about how they had defeated a Yeti, reminding his brother that it was a snow bear, and they hadn't fought it, but had rather hid from it. This had elicited a good laugh from the Zora, and a good-natured dirty look from his brother.

The next morning, they set off for Castle Town with high spirits. Leif was looking forward to finding out how much their samples were worth, but he looked forward even more to going back to the ranch and seeing his wife again.

Rickard and Leif walked at an unhurried pace along the road, using the castle as a landmark to keep them going in the right direction. As they walked, they continued to formulate their plans.

"I say we just tell the laborers that we're clearing out the road north, and get to know them as we do that. Whichever ones we think won't keep a secret, we can send back under the pretext of getting more supplies." Rickard kicked a stone out of the road, and adjusted his pack as he walked, making it rustle and clank with all the items he had packed into it.

Leif frowned. "I don't think we should lie to them. They'll be the only people besides us who know about the mines, and if we start out by lying to them, they'll be more likely to tell someone else."

Rickard rolled his eyes. "It's not lying, Leif. We really will be fixing up the road, but we just… won't tell them about what else they'll be doing."

The elder Fenris shook his head. "I still don't like it. I say we promise them a share in the mines straight off, and tell them that if they tell anyone else about the mines, everyone's shares get cut in half. If we hire a team of men who already know each other, they'll be less likely to do something that would hurt everybody."

Rickard shrugged. "We still have a while before we go back, so we can hammer out the details later. We're almost to Castle Town, so I say we stop there tonight and scout around a little."

Leif picked up his pace. "Sounds good. We can make it there by noon if we hurry."

-

* * *

After visiting the assaying office and finding out that just what they had brought back with them from the mines was worth over thirty thousand Rupees, the two brothers cashed in twenty thousand of it and kept the rest for samples to show to investors, as originally planned.

Next, they visited a jeweler's shop, and he had given them another ten thousand Rupees for the diamond necklaces and other assorted jewelry from the manor's master bedroom, but from the way the elderly man was acting, Leif suspected they were worth considerably more. As they left the jeweler's, their packs now stuffed with Rupees instead of treasure, Leif had smiled as he thought about the rest of the jewelry they had left in the manor, not to mention all the other treasure, and how they would never have to worry about money again.

Excited with their new-found fortune, the brothers decided to spend a little of it. First, they stopped at the barber and had their hair cut. Rickard had his beard trimmed neatly, while Leif opted to have what he had grown on the mountain shaved off. The barber joked that he had never seen such a transformation. He told them they almost looked human, chuckling to let them know he was joking as he swept away the piles of hair.

To make their transformation from scruffy explorers to gentlemen complete, they visited a clothier's shop and had themselves measured for some new suits. Leif chose green, since it was his favorite color, and Rickard chose a dark shade of red. They also purchased some new traveling clothes, since their already threadbare clothes they had worn on the mountain had many new holes and tears from the trip in the mines and through the ice and snow.

Leif, since he knew Nomi's approximate sizes, bought her several dresses he thought she would like. She hadn't gotten to wear anything this fancy since their wedding, and he knew she would be happy. She hadn't ever said anything to him about it, but she had had a more comfortable life with her parents here in Castle Town, and the ranch wasn't profitable enough for him to give her everything he thought she deserved.

That wouldn't be a problem now.

At the cobbler's, the brothers bought some new shoes to go with their suits, and Rickard bought two new pairs of boots, also, grinning as he said that this was the first time he'd had a nice-looking pair that actually fit him.

They checked into an inn, and decided to go look for a bar, mostly because they wanted to relax, but also to look for someone who might know where they could hire a team of laborers.

Now, they sat at the bar in a little place called Telma's with a couple of Hyrule soldiers. One of them had introduced himself as Rusl, and he was telling the brothers about his hometown in Ordona Province to the south.

"It's got a little creek running through the middle of the village, and the most delicious catfish you've ever eaten swim in a little pond back behind the village waterwheel." The soldier's blond hair was trimmed short, and he had the beginnings of a moustache growing on his young features. He couldn't have been more than seventeen, but he looked like he was in good shape, rare for a Hyrule soldier nowadays.

Leif smiled. "Sounds pleasant. How many people live there?"

Rusl grinned. "Oh, not more than a couple dozen or so. It's a real small village, but we and a few of the other villages in Ordona grow most of the country's food there. You ever had Ordon goat meat?"

"Can't say as I have. I've heard cheese from Ordona is some of the best in the country, though." Leif took another swig of ale.

Rusl grinned even broader, if that was possible. "You're right about that." He took a drink of his own ale and looked over at Leif and Rickard. "So where are you boys from?"

Rickard answered. "We own a ranch down in Faron province. We raise horses for the army, mostly, though other people buy from us as well."

Rusl raised his eyebrows politely, showing an expression of interest. "How big is your ranch?"

"It's just me and my brother and my wife," Leif said. "Oh, and we have one hand, though we might hire another before long."

Rusl smiled. "You might think about going down to Ordon to look for your other hand. We raise goats, and I know they're not as rowdy as horses, but you'd be surprised how much fight they can put up. There are several young men down there who I think might be able to help you on your ranch."

Leif smiled back at the soldier. This had to be the friendliest soldier they'd met in the capital, and he was surprised the man had bothered to do more than grunt muttered pleasantries, like the other soldiers they'd encountered.

"I might do that. Thanks, Rusl."

The soldier smiled again. "Don't mention it. So, what brings you to Castle Town? Anything I can help you with?" He took another drink of his ale.

Leif thought that Rusl might know something about the strange group of black-clad warriors they had found frozen up in the mansion. He pulled out the dagger with the crying-eye insignia and showed it to Rusl. "Can you tell me anything about this symbol?"

Rusl took the dagger and looked it over closely. "I've never seen it before, sorry. Where'd you get this?"

"I found it on a dead Hylian warrior up in the northern mountains. I was wondering if he might be a Hyrule soldier."

Rusl shook his head. "The army doesn't use any symbols that look like this. If you showed this to the keeper of the city archives, he might be able to tell you." Rusl handed the dagger back. "But, those are in the castle, and you need permission to get in. Tell you what, if you come by the main gate tomorrow at about ten o'clock, I'll let you in. I'll have to tell my commander first, but I should be able to get you in without any problem."

"Thank you, Rusl. I'll be there."

The young soldier nodded. "Sure." He stood up from his barstool. "My evening shift starts in a few minutes, so I have to go now, but I'll see you tomorrow." He placed several Rupees on the bar. "Nice meeting you, Leif."

Leif shook the young man's hand. "Same here. See you tomorrow."

Rusl nodded and headed off to the door.

"Hey, that's lucky," Rickard said. He lowered his tone. "Finding a Hyrule Soldier who isn't an idiot, that is."

Leif smirked. "I won't argue with you on that one."

Telma, the young woman who ran the bar, came over to ask if they needed anything. She was tall, with intricately braided red hair and dark skin. She looked almost Gerudo, though Leif didn't think so. The desert people hadn't been seen since Ganondorf was defeated more than a century ago, and besides, Hylians probably wouldn't let one into the city.

"No, we're fine," said Rickard. "Thanks, though."

"Sure thing, honey. You just give a yell if you want anything." She tossed a towel over her shoulder and sauntered off to the other side of the bar, where more soldiers and various other adventurers were gathered.

Telma's Bar seemed to cater to men of arms, and Leif didn't see any women in here other than Telma herself, who looked more than capable of handling any rowdy patrons. The tavern was pleasantly lit, with walls of stone and various jars and bottles displayed on shelves around the room. Besides the bar itself, there were tables scattered around the room, groups of two or three sitting around each of them. There was a room in the back partitioned off by a curtain, but it was dark and seemed to be unoccupied. The tavern wasn't crowded, but Leif could tell it had many regulars, from the familiarity the patrons showed with each other.

By far, off-duty soldiers, most of them still in uniform, were the largest group in the bar, though several other swordsmen, archers, and other adventurous-looking men were scattered through the room. Leif found himself thinking that if he lived here, he would probably frequent this bar, too. It seemed like a pleasant place to unwind and have a drink after a hard day's work.

After a while, Leif and Rickard decided to go back to the inn, and paid their bill. Telma called for them to have a good night, and Leif waved his acknowledgment as they stepped out into the night air.

As they walked through the streets of Castle Town back to the inn, the brothers passed a group of Gorons headed for the bar. The giant rock-creatures were laughing and joking, talking about how a human named Bo had just bested their chieftain at Sumo wrestling, and how they had never seen anything like it. Leif idly wondered what kind of man could beat a Goron at Sumo.

"Must be a real monster of a man, eh?" Rickard said. "He's got to be eight feet tall and solid muscle."

"That, or he was wearing armor. A Goron would easily outweigh a human, no matter what size he is," Leif replied, gesturing back at the group of Gorons.

The Fenris brothers continued their discussion all the way back to the inn, where, after a while, they headed up to their room and went to sleep.

-

* * *

The next morning, after breakfast at the inn, they went to the castle gates at ten, as they had arranged with Rusl. They wore their new suits to seem more reputable, and combed their hair neatly, making sure to polish their shoes, too. Leif's argument for this was that the less they looked like horse ranchers and more like nobles, the more likely they were to be let into the castle.

The young soldier Rusl was there waiting for them, and he gestured at the door with one hand, the other on his spear.

"My commander said it's all right if I take you to the archives, though you'll have to leave any weapons here, since His Majesty is in residence at the moment."

This wasn't a problem, since the brothers had left their swords back in their room at the inn. There was a brief bit of discussion over the dagger, but Rusl decided to let them keep it, since the blade was cracked and he said he trusted them.

He showed them through the richly appointed passageways of the castle to the archives, past many suits of armor and displayed swords. The wide, white halls were also lined with paintings and tapestries, some of them depicting familiar scenes and some not. To Rickard's disappointment, the archives were not in the central keep, and were instead in one of the other wings.

"I was hoping to catch a glance of the King or Queen. That'd be a story to tell Nomi, wouldn't it?" The younger Fenris craned his neck to look out of a window as they passed it.

"It sure would," Leif replied.

Rusl chuckled. "It's not likely you'd get to see Their Majesties, unless you had an audience with them. Even I never see them unless I'm on throne room duty." He pointed to the next door in the hallway. "Here we are. I have to get back to my post, so I'll see you later."

They thanked the young soldier as he left and they entered the archives. It was a massive room with shelf upon shelf of manuscripts, dimly lit and smelling faintly musty. There was a young man in well-made clothes with dark hair and glasses sitting at a desk and reading a book, to their right, and they approached him.

"Hello, there," Leif said to the scholar.

The bespectacled man looked up from his book. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"My name is Leif and this is my brother Rickard. We were wondering if you could tell us about a dagger we found. It has a strange symbol on it, and we were hoping to find out what it is."

The scholarly man put a scrap of paper in his book and closed it, setting it aside. "I'm hardly a weapons expert, but I'll tell you what I can." He gestured for Leif and Rickard to sit down, and the elder Fenris handed the man the dagger. "I'm Henry, by the way."

Henry looked the dagger over for a few moments, fingering the eye insignia and picking a speck of dirt out of the carving. "It looks like the Sheikah crest, but they were all but wiped out in the wars. Can I ask where you got it?"

Leif leaned forward in his chair. "I was up in the Snowpeak Mountains, and I found it on a frozen warrior. Who are the Sheikah?"

Henry looked closer at the dagger. "They're a secretive tribe that protects the royal family, among other things, though as I said, they were almost wiped out in the wars. Some of the soldiers swear they've seen some lurking about the castle, though they're prone to superstition, if you ask me. The Sheikah are supposed to have all kinds of magical powers, and they are also said to be masters at stealth, so there very well could be a few here in the castle, I suppose. I've never met or even seen one, so I don't know much about them." He looked up at Leif. "What condition was this frozen warrior of yours in? How old would you say he was?"

Leif shrugged. "I thought he looked like he hadn't been dead that long, though he was frozen, and I suppose that could throw it off."

Henry nodded. "Yes, it could. As I said, I don't know much about the Sheikah, since I mostly research the Sky People, though I don't know how interested you would be in that. The previous keeper of the archives could have told you much more about the Sheikah, but he passed away a few months ago." Henry handed the dagger back to Leif. "I could provide you with some books on the Sheikah, if there were any. I'm afraid we don't have any official material on them, just some slight mentions in the legends and hearsay." Henry gestured at the dagger. "That's actually only the third object I've seen with the Sheikah insignia, though the other two were stones."

Leif perked up. "What kind of stones?"

The scholar held his hand over the side of his desk, about three feet off the floor. "They're about this tall, and irregularly shaped, with a hole in the center. The only marking is the Sheikah symbol, and I haven't the foggiest idea what they're for. I found them when I was out looking for the owl statues left behind by the Sky People." He smiled quickly. "Though, I haven't been doing much searching since my son was born." Henry straightened, clearing his throat. "Ah, was there anything else you needed?"

Leif tucked the dagger back into his pocket. At least he had something to go on. Now he knew the name of the group of frozen soldiers, but he still didn't know what they were doing in the mansion, or who the fur-clad warriors they had fought were.

A sudden thought struck him. "Oh, yes, there was another thing. Have you heard of a Hero named Link Fenris?"

Henry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "There have been more than a few Heroes named Link, and 'Fenris' sounds familiar to me, but I can't immediately recall a Hero with that particular name. Do you know what he was the Hero of?"

Leif leaned forward slightly. "No, I don't sorry. He would have been active about three hundred years ago, if that helps."

Henry stood. "It does. I'll go get the Chronicles of the Heroes, and we'll find your Link Fenris. I'll be right back." The bespectacled scholar headed off between the aisles of manuscripts, quietly muttering to himself.

The brothers shared a brief excited look. They would finally find out which Hero they were descended from, and what he had accomplished. Neither of them could wait.

-

* * *

Author's Note: This chapter gave me an inordinate amount of trouble, but it probably would have been up a week ago if I hadn't gotten sick. You try typing when you can't move your head without a wave of nausea. Anyway, I had to cut the end off this chapter, to keep it from being too long, so Chapter 4 will start with the Hero's legend. Updates will be quicker in the future, I promise.


	4. Chapter 4

Four

The scholar Henry returned to the desk the Fenris brothers were sitting at in the castle archives, toting a large, thick book with '_Chronicles of the Heroes, Vol. IV_' embossed on the cover in ornate gold letters. Henry set the book down on his desk and turned it to face the brothers, coming over to their side and opening it up.

"I believe this is the correct volume. We should find Link Fenris without any problem." Henry started turning pages, muttering to himself as he looked at the name at the top of each entry.

Leif noticed that some entries were several pages, and some were only one. He considered asking to look through the whole set sometime, but he planned to leave for home after he was finished here. He had been away from home long enough, he thought.

The scholar scooted a chair over and sat down in it, continuing to turn pages in the book, and after a few moments, he sat up straighter and tapped the page with his finger. "Here we are. Link Fenris, the Hero of Lightning."

Leif leaned over the page. "Lightning?"

Henry nodded. "It looks like this entry was written by the Zelda of his time, though that's hardly rare in these chronicles. It seems the bearers of Courage and Wisdom invariably work together whenever the Triforce is split." He scanned the entry for a few more seconds, and then turned to look at the brothers. "Perhaps I'll just read you the whole thing. This is too interesting to summarize."

-

* * *

_This is the tale of Link Fenris, the Hero of Lightning, as recorded in these Chronicles by the hand of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Zelda Nohansen Hyrule II, whose life he twice saved._

_From what the Hero has told me, he was an orphan, and he never knew his parents. Link grew up on the streets of Castle Town, doing odd jobs for merchants and working as a delivery boy to support himself until the age of seventeen, when he attempted to enlist in the Hyrule Army. He was turned away by the recruiting officer, who told him he doubted Link's ability to fight effectively, since the country was on the verge of war with Holodrum at the time. Link told me that he was determined to show the recruiting officer he was army material, and so he found a place to watch while the soldiers drilled, and begged lessons from any swordsmen who would teach him, this going on for almost a year or so._

_He told me he was on his way to the recruiting office to attempt to enlist again when my family's procession crossed the street, and he stopped to watch. My father was headed out to review the troops, and my mother, younger brother, and I went with him._

_I firmly believe it was the hand of the Goddesses that guided Link to that spot at that time, for if he had not been there, my brother and I would surely have been killed._

_Our procession was almost to the southern gate of the city when the Sorcerer attacked. His first blast of magical energy hit my father, killing him instantly, and his second hit my mother and grazed my brother Gareth, forever costing him the use of his left arm. I have gone over those moments many times since then, and still, I know there was nothing that could have been done by either the Hero or myself that would have prevented the tragic events of that day. The Sorcerer's attack was too sudden, and I count myself fortunate that Link was able to do as much as he did._

_But, Fate, in the form of Link, intervened on my behalf, and just as I heard a third blast charging, I was suddenly tackled from my horse. I still remember the intense heat as the blast missed my body by mere inches. Link himself has told me that he acted on pure impulse, almost as if his actions were not his own, as he dragged me out of the way and tossed his cloak over Gareth, who had already fallen from his horse._

_Our bodyguards attacked the Sorcerer, and kept him distracted as Link pulled my brother and I into the crowd, who were running about in such confusion that we were able to slip off unnoticed to safety._

_Before I continue this chronicle further, I will record here that neither the Hero or myself ever learned the Sorcerer's name or his true motives, other than to assassinate the royal family. He never attempted to take control of Hyrule, and indeed, until Link defeated him, he did not seem to have any other goals in mind other than my death and that of my brother, since he hounded us relentlessly until his end. I wonder at times if he was a servant to some other villain, but such a person never showed himself during the crisis, or indeed during my reign thus far, now in its thirty-sixth year._

_I return to the narrative: Link took us to his dwelling, a modest room above the tavern where he was employed at the time, and bade my brother and I stay there while he went to fetch our bodyguards. I tended to my brother's wound, and attempted to console him over the sudden death of our parents. I will admit here that I myself was at the time in a state of shock, and hadn't processed the events fully yet. I also believe the Triforce of Wisdom, which had been given to me on my eighteenth birthday, since I was the oldest child and heir, gave me strength during that trying time._

_Link returned shortly, and told me that he could not find any of my bodyguards or soldiers, and also that he did not see the Sorcerer at any time during his search. It was at this time that I noticed the mark of those chosen by the gods glowing upon his hand, and I pointed this out to him, telling him that he must have been chosen to bear the Triforce of Courage by his actions in the square, and that he was now the Chosen Hero._

_I could tell he had many questions, but to his credit, Link took this revelation in stride and decided to take on the task of protecting Gareth and I himself, immediately taking charge of the situation. He paused only long enough to gather up what supplies he could, and told my brother and I to change into what spare clothes he had, as a disguise, while he went to get more food. I am forever grateful to him for being able to keep a clear head, since mine was anything but at the time._

_When he returned again, Link had cloaks for my brother and I, and as he girded himself with his sword, he explained his plan. He told me that he thought the city and the castle were not safe, and it would be best to find a place for Gareth and I to hide while he tried to find a way to stop the Sorcerer._

_Not even two hours after the attack, Link took us out of the city, concerned only with our safety, and we joined a crowd that was fleeing the capital, headed for the Eldin lands and the safety of Kakariko Village, watched over by our eternal allies, the powerful Goron people. The Sorcerer did not attack our group of refugees, and I have since learned that he was still in the city at the time, searching the castle for something, presumably Gareth and I._

_The people of Kakariko welcomed the refugees, horrified at the news we bore, but what protection the village offered was not good enough for Link. Late one night, he awoke my brother and I and bade us follow him. At some point, he had approached the patriarch of the Gorons, and privately told him who his charges were. He insisted that the Gorons guard us in their most secure location while he tried to find a way to defeat the Sorcerer, demonstrating the quick thinking and sharp intellect he displayed all through the time I knew him._

_He stayed with us two more days, making sure the Gorons gave us adequate protection, during which time I attempted to prepare him for the quest he was already intent on undertaking. He was brave, certainly, but he had never fought anything more dangerous than another street urchin before, and I told him of the monsters he would encounter and what I knew of their weaknesses._

_After the Gorons gave him a fire tunic and a war hammer, I created a magic pocket for the Hero to store items in, and gave him a Gossip Stone, so I could stay in contact with him and help him however I could. It was little thanks for all he had done for us, I think, but I had already determined to reward him however I could once the crisis was over._

_He left then, and Gareth and I were left with the Gorons, who were most hospitable to us, and also most protective, not once leaving us without at least two of their enormously strong people as guards._

_I do not know all of what happened to Link during his quest, since there were things he would not tell even me, but I have surmised that the young man was quickly hardened by his first real tastes of combat, and he faced many terrifying monsters, some of which yielded useful items to him. The next time I saw him, on a visit to check on my brother and I, he had acquired a bow, a shield like the ones used by the Hylian knights, and the traditional green tunic of the Heroes, under which he wore a shirt of mail, which he told me saved his life in his first battle with the Sorcerer._

_He told me of the battle, in which the Sorcerer had attacked him while he rode through Hyrule Field in a rainstorm, and he learned during the battle that our adversary was a human who had somehow acquired great magic powers, despite which he was still mortal and could be harmed. He learned this when by chance, or Fate, the Sorcerer was struck by lightning, and Link was able to wound him grievously before the villain transported himself away._

_Link told me that he had been unable to harm the Sorcerer before the lightning strike, and he supposed the mage was vulnerable to electricity. One of the Goron elders told us of an object of power spoken of in the ancient legends of his people called the Staff of Lightning he thought the Hero would find useful. But, he told us, because of the power the staff was able to unleash, it had been sealed deep inside a sacred temple in the mountains of northern Hyrule, near Zora's Domain. The ancients had placed many wards on the temple, and filled it with guardians, to prevent all but the most worthy from attaining the staff._

_The Hero boldly set off in search of the staff, in the company of a Goron named Dar who knew where the temple was, and I did not see him again for many days. He told me later that he had spent several days inside the temple, and he and Dar saved each other's lives many times over, from both the guardian monsters and the booby traps, most of which involved the harnessing of lightning. One trap he spoke of had nearly incinerated him, but Dar knocked him aside and bore the charge himself, which almost killed the courageous Goron, who deserves an honored place in this narrative._

_Link further told me of the many-tentacled monster who was the final guardian of the Staff of Lightning, and the long and arduous battle he and Dar fought against it. His description was certainly frightening, but he tells me that it was not the worst creature he faced. He would say nothing more on the matter when I questioned him, and I wonder what other trials the chosen Hero was forced to endure._

_He returned with the staff, and when I later saw it in action, I agree with the Hero that it is indeed a powerful weapon, and has the capacity for great damage, if wielded by one with an evil heart. I placed upon the staff a powerful seal that will only allow it to be used by a chosen one of the gods, a Triforce Bearer, in an attempt to prevent this from ever happening._

_Link had scarcely borne the staff a fortnight, training himself in its use, when somehow, the Sorcerer found us. I do not know if this was by means of a spy or if he simply stumbled upon our hiding place, but I was awoken one night by a scream from my brother as the Sorcerer forced his way into our chamber._

_He unleashed a barrage of magical blasts at us, giving no reason for his attack, but I was able to throw up a shield in time. Now that I recall the encounter, I do not remember him ever uttering a single word in my presence. Most curious._

_I do not know how long the Sorcerer and I engaged in our contest of wills, he pressing against my shield, and I attempting to maintain it, but I had nearly reached the point of collapse when a powerful, blinding bolt of electricity knocked the Sorcerer aside, and Link charged into the chamber, taking advantage of his opponent's surprise._

_After the first flurry of strikes and counterstrikes, the combatants began using their powers against one another, and after a fierce blast from the Hero, the Sorcerer was blasted through the thick stone walls of our sanctuary, right out into the open air of the crater of Death Mountain itself. Link ran after him, attacking again and again._

_I followed, and I could only watch as the Hero and the Sorcerer traded blasts of lightning and magic, occasionally dueling with their swords whenever they got close enough to strike. Neither combatant gained the upper hand for the longest time, and their battle raged around the rim of the volcano, first one of them hitting the other with a blast and knocking him far away, and the next moment the other would return the attack. I am certain that the Goddess Farore was directly protecting her avatar that day, for I do not know how any man, even a Hero, could have withstood such an assault and kept on fighting._

_The battle was a terrible thing to watch, like a duel between titans from the legends of the dawn of the world. Both fighters sustained what I thought were killing blows multiple times, and I am certain my heart skipped a beat on one of these occasions, when it looked as if the Hero had been killed._

_The Sorcerer had unleashed a particularly furious barrage of magic blasts, and several of these made it through Link's guard. He cried out in agony and collapsed backward, falling out of my sight. The Sorcerer, his dark cloak and robes flapping and swirling about him in the wind, stalked slowly to where the Hero had fallen, his sword raised for a killing blow. Had I the ability to fly, I would have flown up and stabbed him in the back myself, but I could only watch from the relative safety of the Goron city, where almost all of the rock people had gathered, watching the duel along with my brother and I._

_Just when it seemed that all hope had failed, there was a bright flash of light, white in color, and we heard a high, agonized keening, which I can only assume came from the Sorcerer's throat, since no ordinary mortal could have made that sound. It still haunts my nightmares occasionally, and I will make no further attempt to describe it, since there are no words that come to my mind that could make someone who was not there understand that unnatural sound._

_As we watched, Link stood from where he had fallen, and struck the Sorcerer once, twice, three times with the Staff of Lightning, the object of power discharging with each strike. The Sorcerer stumbled on the rocks, stunned, and Link plunged his sword into the villain's heart, resulting in another bone-chilling wail. The Hero planted his boot on his adversary's chest and shoved him into the crater, standing there motionless as a statue as his watched his opponent tumble into the lava._

_Whatever dark and assuredly unnatural powers the Sorcerer had brought under his control were released upon his death in a terrifying display, lighting up the cloud-covered sky with brilliant flashes of light and deafening blasts of sound, the like of which I have never experienced again._

_More ominously, the release of the Sorcerer's power caused the lava to boil, and the mountain to shake, and Death Mountain erupted for the first time in a thousand years, according to the Gorons. The volcano's power was truly awe-inspiring and terrifying, one of the most spectacular experiences of my life. Again, words fail me to exactly describe what it was like on that day. I can only imagine what it was like for Link, up there on the top of the mountain, close to the awesome power being unleashed._

_The Gorons rushed into action, and they hurried up the mountain to carve a tunnel for the lava to flow through, so it would avoid their city and Kakariko below. Dar, the courageous Goron who had helped Link obtain the Staff of Lightning, told me later that he thought of nothing but his sworn brother, trapped up on the rim of the volcano's cone, and he went to save his life once again._

_It was hours later, after the Gorons had calmed their mountain, that Dar strode into the village, bearing in his arms our battered Hero, burned, bruised, and unconscious, his hands clenched around his weapons like claws and pain wracking his features._

_I watched over him for the next few days as he recovered, tending to his wounds, which were many and grievous. Dar told me that the two of them had been trapped by lava flows, and a spout of molten rock had flared up behind them, sudden and unavoidable. The Goron had shielded the Hero with his own body, but Link had still been badly burned. Despite my healing efforts, he bore the scars of that day for the rest of his life, though thankfully, none of them were crippling._

_As the Hero healed, I set about healing my country, as well. As soon as Link could be moved, I brought him with me to Castle Town, and announced my survival and that of my brother, which the people were overjoyed to hear. Link was well enough to attend my coronation, and on that day, I proclaimed his role in the crisis, and awarded him a lordship and a family name, Fenris, after the wolf of legend whose courage he demonstrated many times over._

_For reasons he never explained in detail, the Hero of Lightning left the country after his recovery was complete, and he journeyed in parts unknown to me for several years. There were scattered reports and rumors during this time of a mysterious man who bore a staff of great power and assisted those who were in need, once even defeating an entire battalion of moblins by himself, though I am unsure of how many of these reports were true. I did receive several letters from him over the years, though none of them were very specific as to what he was doing during this time._

_After many years had passed, the Hero returned to Hyrule, met a woman from one of the outlying provinces, and fell in love, settling down and raising a family, three sons and two daughters, by what I have heard. Though he visited the castle with his wife once and several more times by himself over the next few years, I have met none of his children but his eldest son, Endrew, who came to the castle to report that his father had disappeared again, and to request from me a group of laborers with which to start up mines in the northern mountains. I granted his request, and gave my blessing to the endeavor. Endrew told me that his father had vanished one day, leaving behind all of his equipment and possessions. He told me that it was almost as if the gods had plucked him from the mortal world._

_I do not know where Link Fenris, the Hero of Lightning, journeys now, or if he is even still alive at the time of this writing, but I will do all in my power to make sure his story is not forgotten. It is all I can do to try to repay the debt I owe him._

_-

* * *

_

Leif sat back in his chair, thoroughly impressed with the tale of his ancestor. He shook his head in wonderment, going over some of the details in his mind again.

Rickard's mind, however, seemed to be going in a different direction. "I've never heard anything about any Hero of Lightning before this. What did Queen Zelda do to make sure the story wasn't forgotten?"

Henry returned to the other side of the desk and opened one of the drawers, pulling out a smaller, thinner book. "Queen Zelda erected a monument to the Hero in the castle courtyard, which had a summary of his tale inscribed at the base, but through the passage of time, the Hero of Lightning was overshadowed by his successors, and all traces of him were removed from public view after a scandal caused by one of his descendants was covered up by the King of the time."

"What happened?" Leif asked, though he knew most of the answer already.

Henry tapped the book. "I wouldn't even know this if I had not run across this old court record when I was searching for something else a few weeks ago. It was misfiled, and I had been intending to put it in its proper place, but late one night I started reading it instead." He opened the smaller book and referred to it as he spoke. "Around a hundred years ago, the royal distribution offices looked into the records for the Fenris Mining Company, and realized that in the almost two hundred years the company had been in existence, they had only three times hired a group of laborers, and these were all in the first twenty years of operation, under Endrew's leadership.

"The King himself looked at the records, and had his Queen, the Zelda of the time, use her Triforce of Wisdom to look through the records and ascertain the truth. By the power the gods had gifted her, she realized that the FMC was using slaves, and the King immediately sent in a battalion of soldiers into the northern mountains to verify this. They could not find the family mansion, but at an outpost near Zora's Domain through which the FMC handled business, they summoned Randall Fenris, the current holder of the lordship and the leader of the company, to come back with them to Castle Town for questioning.

"The Queen used her power again on Randall Fenris, and though he admitted nothing, she was able to see into his mind and proved that the Fenris Mining Company was indeed using slave labor, and had been doing so since Endrew died and his son took over.

"The King immediately issued a proclamation that no one was to buy from the FMC, and he revoked Randall's lordship, saying that he had disgraced the office. The whole affair was kept quiet, and the reasons for the ban were never made public. Randall escaped from prison and disappeared, and the family faded into obscurity. I have no idea if there are any of them left, actually." Henry smiled grimly. "A rather inauspicious end to a nobly begun family, I think."

Leif tried not to let his surprise and shame show. "Yes, it's too bad the Hero's family ended up like that."

He had known part of the story already, but there was just something about hearing it from a stranger that made his family's shameful secret really sink in. He again privately resolved to make sure the re-formed company, under his leadership, was never less than scrupulously honest in its dealings.

Henry was looking down at the larger book, apparently looking over the Hero of Lightning's tale again. He looked up at the brothers. "Stories like these are why I applied for a position here. Our country has such a rich history, full of exciting tales of heroism and adventure, and now I get to look them over at my convenience." He threw them a conspiratorial wink. "Plus, as head archivist, I can go into the Restricted Books section and read the volumes not allowed to the general public. You wouldn't believe some of the things I've found out in there." He looked momentarily startled at his lapse. "Unfortunately, I can't tell you gentlemen any of it, of course."

Leif hadn't heard a word the man had said, so absorbed was he in his own thoughts. He stood, and tugged on his suit jacket to straighten it. "Thank you for your help, Henry, but my brother and I must be going now. Do we owe you anything?"

Henry looked up at him, startled. "No, of course not." He sounded aghast at the very thought of charging for looking up information.

Leif nodded politely. "Very well then. Farewell." He turned and strode out of the library, followed by his brother, and left the librarian both confused at his behavior, and fascinated by the story he had looked up for the brothers.

-

* * *

Later, a day and a half out from Castle Town, Rickard finally got around to asking Leif why he had left the archives so abruptly.

"I just wanted to get out of there. We already knew most of what he was going to say from what we found up in the manor, but it was unnerving to hear a stranger talk about it so casually." Leif hiked his pack up a little higher on his pack, hearing it jingle with all the money it contained.

Rickard frowned, adjusting the sleeve of his traveling jacket as he walked. "I know what you mean." He was silent for several moments, but suddenly, he asked his brother a surprising question. "Who do you think the guys in fur and leather were, back at the manor?"

It was Leif's turn to frown. "To tell you the truth, I haven't thought too much about them. I was just wondering what Hylians were doing up there."

Rickard nodded. "The Sheikah, right." He hesitated for a moment. "I think they were the descendants of the slaves." Before Leif could say anything, he continued. "Think about it for a second. They were humans, and humans were mostly slaves to Hylians before the royal decree banning slavery. Second, their clothes looked patched together from animal hides, which means they rarely, if ever, encounter civilization, and all of their weapons were either crude wooden clubs, or swords that looked like they came from the manor's armory.

"They're up in the most forbidding mountains of Hyrule, practically in the middle of nowhere, but seem perfectly adapted to living there. That only makes sense if they've been there a long time." He looked pointedly at his brother. "Say, three hundred years or so. Lonathan's diary mentioned a hundred of them escaped in his father's time, and we don't know where they went. They obviously didn't go to Hyrule, or else the King then would have done what the King a hundred years ago did.

"And, you have to factor in what happened to all the slaves from when Randall was caught. That Henry guy said the King's soldiers never found the manor, and since there weren't any more bodies in the manor and none in the mines, they had to have gone somewhere." He stopped and looked at his brother. "I think they stayed in the mountains, and have been living there ever since."

Leif nodded thoughtfully, surprised at Rickard. His brother had obviously spent a while thinking about this, and his brother wasn't exactly known for his thoughtfulness. "Makes sense to me."

"You realize what this means, don't you?" Rickard's face was unusually serious as he looked at his brother.

The elder Fenris looked over at his younger brother, already suspecting what he was thinking. "That they're still there, and may not appreciate the descendants of their slavemasters coming back to start up the mines their ancestors worked in again?"

"Exactly."

Leif sighed. "We'll deal with that hurdle if it arises. For now, let's just concentrate on getting home. I'm sure Nomi is anxious to see us again." A smile drew across his features. "We've got plenty to tell her, that's for sure."

-

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is shorter than usual, but I got to a good place to end it a little early. The next chapter should be up sometime within the next two weeks, hopefully. As always, tell me what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

Five

"But sir," the clerk said, in a tone that made it clear she doubted Leif's intelligence, "there's nothing in those mountains. There was a mine up there once, but it was abandoned when it ran out. Are you sure you want this territory?"

Leif simply pointed to the area on the survey map he'd outlined. "The area's unclaimed, and I would like to file it as belonging to Leif Fenris, with full ownership and mining rights."

The clerk gave him the strange look again. "If you insist, sir. I don't think anyone will try to infringe on the territory, though. The registration fee will be three thousand Rupees."

Leif slid the money across the counter without hesitation.

Behind him, Nomi Fenris, his wife, kept herself from glaring at the clerk. What was it about Leif that made people assume he wasn't as smart as he was?

Nomi was still ashamed at how her parents had at first opposed her marrying Leif, saying that he was just a 'stupid horse rancher', and wouldn't be able to provide for her and any possible children. Her mother in particular had had a low opinion of Leif's intelligence, and Nomi had not been able to contain her amusement when her then-future husband had casually proved her wrong one evening during a heated discussion of politics around the dinner table.

He'd pointed out a subtle detail that Nomi's parents had missed, and over the next few weeks, it turned out to be crucial to the issue, a dispute between two of the noble houses over who had control over the trade route to Holodrum. Leif had been perfectly polite over the whole thing, and never let on that he knew what Nomi's parents thought of him. His respectful demeanor eventually won them over, though Nomi had done her share of convincing.

Next to her, Rickard broke her out of her thoughts by gently nudging her with his elbow. "At least we know nobody else has gotten the same idea."

Nomi smirked as she whispered back. "Nobody else wants to go operate a mine in the coldest mountains in Hyrule? What a surprise."

Leif accepted the papers the clerk gave him and tucked them into the inside pocket of his jacket, walking over to the two of them. "Ready to go?"

"As ready as I'm going to get." she replied, falling into step beside him as the three of them walked back to the inn where they were staying.

The whole thing was so sudden, and it seemed like only yesterday Nomi had been patching a hole in the fence with Hingo, their hired hand, when her husband and brother-in-law had strode into view, dressed in clothes finer than she had ever seen either wear, with tremendous grins to match.

Leif had broken into a run as he spotted her, sweeping her into his arms almost before she knew what was happening, laughing. After he cleaned up from the road, he had told her all about what had happened up on the mountain, Rickard occasionally filling in details, and while she was amazed at all that had happened, good and bad, she was still wary of the whole endeavor.

As she had said, "What if the royal ban is still in effect? Do you know if anyone will actually buy from you?"

"It's been almost a century," Leif had responded. "Even if the ban is still on record, the company it applies to doesn't exist anymore. We'd technically be starting our own company, and I'm going to apply for all the permits and everything the next time we're in Castle Town."

He and Rickard had moved quickly after that, making arrangements for one of their neighbors to manage their ranch while they were gone, and less than a month after the brothers had come home from Snowpeak, the three of them set off for Castle Town, spending two weeks here as they interviewed potential teams of laborers.

A team of thirty men, who'd just come off working in another mine near Lake Hylia, ended up being the one they hired, and the family had personally met each of the men, getting to know them a little and establishing a rapport.

Now, the three of them were making the final preparations to leave for the mines hidden deep in the Snowpeak Mountains. Leif's plan was to leave tomorrow, after finally getting the second expedition organized.

As they entered the inn, Nomi and Rickard headed to the common room while Leif went to put the registration papers and other valuables in their room before joining them.

Rickard stepped up to the counter and ordered a bottle of wine and three glasses. Nomi and her brother-in-law chose a table at the back, and once Leif appeared in the doorway to the common room, Rickard waved him over.

As Leif settled into his chair, Rickard poured him a glass of wine, handing another to Nomi.

"A toast," the younger Fenris brother said, raising his glass, "to our little endeavor."

"To success!" Leif said.

The three of them clinked their glasses together, saluting the grand adventure on which they were about to embark.

-

* * *

Nomi Fenris gazed out over the expanse of white, wondering how much further it was to their destination. She looked over at her husband, Leif, who leaned on his walking stick next to his brother Rickard and the supervisor of the team of laborers the family had hired, the three of them bent over a map one of the brothers had drawn on their previous expedition.

They had left Castle Town three days ago, and according to Leif and Rickard, were less than a day from the mansion. It was taking this group longer than it had taken just the two brothers, but they were all toting heavy packs full of supplies purchased with the Fenris family's newfound -or possibly reclaimed- wealth, and they were clearing a path as they went, also. Leif had told her that he planned to build a permanent road through here eventually, but that was deemed an expense for when the mines had become more successful.

Nomi shivered inside her bundled furs and coats. Leif had warned her it was cold up in these mountains, but it was almost like a dagger, stabbing through her clothing right to the bone.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned to see her husband, his dark blue eyes about the only thing she could see through the scarf wrapped around his face.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice muffled by the scarf.

Nomi nodded. "Yes. It's just _really_ cold out here."

Leif chuckled. "That it is." He put his arm around her shoulders, and gestured out at the trail ahead with his other hand. "By my estimate, we're about three hours from the cavern near the peak, and we'll stop there for the night. It's mostly downhill from there." He patted her shoulder. "We're almost there."

Nomi wrapped her arm around his waist and hugged him briefly through all their layers of clothing. "Tell me again about the mansion."

Leif gestured expansively. "It's practically a palace. Fit for a king!" he squeezed Nomi's shoulder, looking over at her. "And his queen." His striking blue eyes twinkled, and she could tell he was smiling under the scarf. "It needs a bit of fixing up, but I'm sure we can do it."

-

* * *

Nomi looked around the entry hall of the frozen ancestral manor of her husband's family, noting the holes in the ceiling and the ice on the floor. "You weren't kidding when you said this place needed fixing up." She grinned at Leif, who was stamping the snow from his boots as he removed his scarf.

Rickard snorted. "That's what I told him."

Leif shook the snow that had made it under his hood out of his dark blond hair, running his fingers through it. "Oh, there's a few rooms that are still intact. With all the money we're going to make off the mines, we can make this place the envy of any noble's mansion back in Castle Town. It'll just take a little work, is all."

Leif strode further into the hall, waving boldly as his voice took on an exaggeratedly imperious tone and he adopted a snooty version of a Castle Town accent. "Besides, the ice makes a _bold_ statement, and I think it gives the place an air of," he scrunched up his face into a comically arrogant sneer, "_sophistication_ and _ambiance_ that's all the rage nowadays. You just wait, my dear. Soon all the nobles will want ice in their entry hall." He made a show of looking down his nose at the two of them, parodying looks they'd gotten from real nobles in Castle Town.

The three of them burst into laughter, the sound echoing in the normally still air of the hall, and they made their way to the door at the far end of the hall, still chuckling.

They had left the team of laborers at the entrance to the mine, leaving the men to settle into the living quarters carved into the tunnels near the entrance. Over the course of their journey here, the three of them had made a point of getting to know the men of the team, and they were certain they had chosen well. The men were all trustworthy, hard workers, and once Leif and Rickard had explained the terms of their contracts, that the men would each receive a percentage of the profits if they kept the mines' existence a relative secret for now, the men had been enthusiastic to get the mines running again.

The Fenris family had worked out an arrangement: At least one of them would remain at the mansion at all times, and one of the brothers would accompany each team out of the mountains as they carried the fabulous stockpiled wealth out of the chamber the brothers had found to Zora's Domain, where they would ship it to Castle Town to be processed and sold.

As they built up the new Fenris Mining Company, Rickard would eventually head the Castle Town office, since of the two brothers, he was the better at mathematics and organization, though both brothers were smarter than most people assumed.

As they walked through a few of the rooms on the first floor of the mansion, Leif's tone grew more and more excited as he described all his plans for the mansion, the mines, and the future mining company. Nomi couldn't help but get excited as Leif went on about how they would fix the mansion up twice as good as it had been, and it was assured that the company would be successful enough to provide for generations of their descendants.

He outlined a bright future for them, and the more he spoke, the more sure Nomi was that it would come true.

-

* * *

Over the next several months, Leif and Rickard took turns journeying out of the mountains with the teams toting the ore and jewels, bringing back supplies from Castle Town with each trip. Nomi accompanied Leif a few times, but most of the time, she stayed at the mansion and helped whichever brother had stayed behind to fix the place up and make it more livable. They patched what holes they could, added ladders in some places until the stairs could be fixed, and hung some of the pictures back up in the entry hall, among other assorted repairs.

After bringing in some boats, it was discovered that the frozen river near Zora's Domain passed by the road a few miles downriver, and the path was dug back out, an outpost rediscovered and put to use in shipping the ore to Castle Town. The three of them were glad that they were able to bypass Zora's Domain in their shipping lines, since it cut a few miles off the journey, and they were also able to respect the Zoras' request to be left in peace. The aquatic people had no interest in what the Fenris family was doing, and otherwise, the ore and supplies would have to pass right through the Zora village to get out to Hyrule.

Also, since neither of the brothers had the experience or knowledge necessary to run a large mining company by themselves, they were selling the ore and raw jewels directly to other mining companies, letting them process and distribute it while they built up their funds in preparation for formally re-founding the Fenris Mining Company. Leif was patient, and he often reminded his wife and brother that it would likely be several years before the company was firmly established, and they should learn all they could about business until then.

Leif, Rickard, and Nomi spent a large portion of their profits on the workers, their reasoning being that happy workers were more productive. They brought in a chef, a doctor, and even a band of musicians for entertainment on the endless winter nights.

The seasons might change in Hyrule, but here in the mountains it was perpetually winter, the only way to differentiate being that sometimes it snowed heavily for weeks on end, and sometimes it went a month or more without snowing. The snow and ice never really melted away, and the temperature was often below freezing when it would be a beautiful summer day in Hyrule.

The brothers also occasionally organized expeditions into the existing mines, and found three more caverns of unprocessed ore and jewels deeper inside the tunnel network. Just hauling the boxes out of the mountains occupied most of the laborers, and no actual mining was started for almost six months after the original expedition.

When the tunnels had been fixed up and the mining began, there were inevitably a few accidents, though no one was ever killed. A few could be explained by inattention, others by the long disrepair of the tunnel network, but the brothers and the foreman were at a loss to explain a few of the incidents, which had no clear cause. After the fourth such incident, Leif began to suspect sabotage, and assigned a few of the workers to guard duty, both in the mines and in the manor. He planned to ask for a company of Hyrule Soldiers once the company was well established

Time passed quickly for the Fenris family, and while Leif and Rickard learned as much as they could about the mines in preparation for making the company independent, Nomi spent her free time reading the books in the libraries of the manor. She learned much about her husband's family, some of it good and some of it terrible. A few of the Fenris lords had been cruel, arrogant men, while others had viewed their forefathers' methods as necessary, and had done nothing to change them.

She often shared what she found with Leif and Rickard in the evenings, and one tale the three of them had been impressed with was the story of one Fenris who had decided to change the methods of the company, decrying the harsh treatment of the workers and chastising his father and older brothers for letting the workers be so mistreated.

Peter Fenris, as he was named, had been educated in Castle Town, spending the majority of his life in Hyrule among the other nobles. Once he had returned to the lonely mansion to assist in the family business, Peter had been shocked to discover that the workers were, in fact, slaves, and were beaten, whipped, and starved when they refused to work or demanded better treatment.

He had done whatever he could to get better conditions for the workers, recording in his journal how frustrating it was to deal with his father and brothers, who approved of the methods and viewed the slaves as property, little better than animals.

Peter had eventually gotten fed up with the rest of the family's stubbornness, and had decided to help the slaves escape, sneaking supplies into the slave quarters and helping them stockpile them in safe places until the time was right. In one dramatic night, Peter had led an uprising, and as the humans overwhelmed the guards, he guided over a hundred of them out of the tunnel network to freedom.

Though the slaves escaped, Peter himself was caught, and the journal recorded several days of musings on what would happen to him before stopping. His words were defiant, and Peter's only regret was that he had not been able to help the entire workforce escape, the entries repeating over and over how inhumane the company's methods were, and that they needed to be stopped.

The family wondered for several months what had happened to Peter, as no other mention of him was found, and it was only after Nomi opened Lonathan Fenris' journal again that they learned the truth. In an entry before the one Leif had read on the original expedition, she found a passing mention of Lonathan 'slipping on some ice outside the manor's entrance, and nearly falling to my death like departed Uncle Peter', which they took to mean that Peter had been murdered by his family rather than let him cause any more trouble. They had been shocked, but it was hardly the most terrible thing done in the family history.

The new Fenris Mining Company gradually came together, and as time passed, Leif's dream of a successful company that could provide for generations with its wealth looked more and more likely to become reality. Hopes were high, and over the months, the population of the mining outpost grew as the families of the workers came up to live with them, aiding in organization and tasks other than the hard work of mining. The company still had few who knew about it in Hyrule, since their output was not even a tenth of what the mines had put out in their heyday, and they still had to rely on other companies to ship and sell the ore, but the day was fast approaching that the mines would be fully operational and the Fenris Mining Company would become self-sufficient.

-

* * *

One day, nearly a year after the brothers had first ventured into the mountains, Nomi consulted the resident doctor, going to the office he had set up in one of the mansion's many rooms. She had been feeling sick in the mornings for several weeks, and she had been suspecting the reason, but she wanted to confirm it.

The doctor, an older man with thick gray hair and a kind, gentle demeanor, smiled at her. "You're going to have a baby, Lady Fenris. Congratulations! This will be your first, won't it?"

Nomi nodded, too overjoyed to say anything. She couldn't wait to tell Leif, but he was off on a trip through the mountains at the moment, probably on his way back from Castle Town by now.

The doctor grinned broadly. "Now, don't you worry, Lady Fenris. I've brought a lot of babies into this world, and I'll be here for you every step of the way. Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?"

Nomi sighed happily. "Well, I'd be happy with either one, but Leif will probably be hoping for a boy." She smiled. "He wants a son, and he's even got a name picked out already. He wants to name him Link, after his ancestor, a Hero."

The doctor smiled again. "A fine name." He stood, and straightened his white coat, walking over to the window in his office and looking out. "The weather has certainly worsened lately, hasn't it?"

Nomi nodded. "Leif tells me that winter is beginning in Hyrule, and it will probably be much worse up here, like last year. He says that he's bringing back extra supplies this time, in case we're snowed in for a few weeks again."

The doctor turned back to look at her. "Lady Fenris, I'm afraid you're not going to like what I have to say." He took off his glasses and cleaned them on his sleeve. "You'll have to stay here until the child is born, to avoid complications from the severity of travel conditions."

Nomi sighed. Nine months stuck in this place? Nine months without seeing the sun or anything green?

It would be worth it, she decided, if Leif was here with her. She thanked the doctor and left, headed back for the master bedroom. As she climbed the ladder, Nomi wryly thought to herself that either Leif was going to have to fix the walkway up here, or she would have to stay on the first floor once she got farther along.

She walked up the short spiral stone ramp that led to the bedroom, huddled inside her heavy fur coat against the cold that never went away. That was one thing that was going to drive her crazy in the coming months; the constant cold and the inability to escape from it.

Nomi heard a small noise, like leather scraping on stone, and she turned to look behind her. Seeing nothing, she turned around again and gasped in surprise.

Crouched in front of her was a man clothed entirely in black, the hilt of a sword poking over one shoulder, and he held a gloved finger to his lips. "Stay quiet. There are others with me," he whispered. His red eyes were serious, as was his expression.

The icy breeze ruffled his silver hair, incongruous with his young-looking face, and the man gestured up the walkway, where Nomi could see another crouched shape.

Nomi's hand grasped the hilt of her dagger inside the pocket of her coat. After a few of the suspicious mine accidents, Leif had insisted that everyone carry at least a dagger with them at all times.

"Who are you?" she said, tensing her muscles. Rickard was just downstairs in the library. If she could get down the ladder, she might be able to block off the door before they could follow her.

The man's hand casually reached up, and he rested two of his fingers on the hilt of his sword, gesturing sharply up the walkway with his other hand. "Don't try anything, please. We are not here to harm anyone."

Nomi slowly walked up the ramp, her fingers clutching the dagger in her pocket. She could tell the man meant what he said, but it still wouldn't hurt to be cautious.

The man and his companion kept low as she entered the bedroom, and ducked inside as the door was opening, looking around as it closed.

The other intruder gestured at one of the chairs near the fireplace. "Please, sit." It was a woman, with the same red eyes and closely cropped silver hair as the man, and she was dressed in the same tight-fitting black clothes, also armed with a sword worn on her back.

"What do you want with me? What are you doing in my house?" Nomi's hands remained in her pockets as she looked from one to the other.

The man crossed his arms over his chest as he answered. "We simply want information. Answer honestly, and we will leave."

"How much of this place have you and your family explored?" the woman asked.

"We've been through all of the rooms of the manor and most of the existing mine," Nomi answered.

The man gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "We are not interested in the mine. What have you found in this mansion? Have you found any secret rooms or hidden weapon caches?"

Nomi looked at him curiously. "No, nothing like that. All the weapons we've found have been in the armory."

The woman glanced about the room as she spoke. "Nothing that looked like a tomb or coffin?"

Nomi shook her head. "Leif thinks there might be crypts under the mansion somewhere, but we haven't been able to find them yet."

The man narrowed his eyes. "Who is Leif? Is he the man downstairs in the library?"

Nomi again shook her head. "No, that's Rickard, Leif's brother. Leif is my husband."

"He is Leif Fenris, the man who this property is registered to?"

"That's right."

The woman began to pace, clasping her hands behind her back. "Have you been attacked while you've lived here?"

"Attacked by who?"

The woman gestured up at her pointed ear with one gloved hand. "Humans, people with round ears. They would likely be dressed in rough clothes, crudely made leathers and furs." As she gestured, Nomi noticed the symbol on the back of the woman's leather gauntlet, an eye with three points on top and a line underneath, resembling a tear.

Leif had shown her the stone near the peak with the same symbol, and had described the frozen warriors he and Rickard had found on their first trip here that bore the symbol on their clothing and weapons. What was the name he had told her? Sheikah, that was it. Were these Sheikah?

Nomi answered as this ran through her mind. "No, we haven't been attacked by anyone like that. We haven't seen anyone but our own group since we came up here."

The man spoke next. "Good. Your husband and his brother, they were the ones who found this place?" Nomi nodded, and he continued. "How long ago was that?"

"About a year," she answered.

The man and woman looked at each other briefly before the woman spoke. "Did they find any bodies? There would have been seven of them, dressed like we are."

Nomi nodded. "They said they found evidence of a battle, and they burned the bodies they found, seven warriors like you and five of those humans you mentioned."

The man frowned slightly. "Very well, then. Thank you for your cooperation. We will not return." He crossed to the door, and the woman joined him.

Before they left, the woman turned to look at Nomi again. "I realize that you view this house as belonging to you, but if you are asked to leave, do so without hesitation."

The man opened the door, and the two warriors left. Nomi rushed to the door as it was closing and went outside herself, but they were gone, no trace of them ever having been here but her memory.

Nomi went back inside and took off her coat, sitting down again. There was definitely more to this mansion than they knew, and she wondered what was here that was being looked for so earnestly by the Sheikah and the humans they had mentioned.

Leif had told her that he thought the humans might be the descendants of the slaves his ancestors had forced to work in the mines, and that they might still be in the area, so everyone had been keeping a lookout for them, but like she had told the two warriors, no one had been seen since they had arrived to start up the mines.

Nomi wondered again why the Sheikah had approached her, and what Leif would think about what had happened today. It looked like her good news would be tempered by this other puzzling development.

-

* * *

"And you're sure you're all right?"

Nomi sighed exasperatedly. "I'm fine, Leif! They just said they wanted information, and they left when I answered their questions. Now stop asking!"

Leif sat down in one of the chairs near the fireplace in the sitting room near the manor's entrance and pulled off his boots. "I'm just concerned, is all. If they made it inside that easily, we're lucky all they wanted was information." He pointed at his brother. "Where were you?"

Rickard gestured behind him at the door. "I was in the library. I never heard a thing until Nomi came to get me."

"Well, don't let her out of your sight when I'm not here from now on. We don't know if they'll try something like this again." Leif looked over at Nomi. "Did they say anything else?"

"Just that thing about leaving if we're asked to. I'm still wondering what they meant by that." Nomi crossed the room to sit next to Leif, pulling her chair up close to his. "But let's forget about that for now. I've got good news you can think about instead."

As she touched his hand, Leif looked up at her. "Oh? What is it?"

Nomi beamed. "You're going to be a father!"

Leif jumped to his feet and swept her into his embrace, laughing happily. "When did you find out?"

"Two days ago. I couldn't wait to tell you!"

Leif grinned more broadly than she had ever seen him, laughing as his brother slapped him on the back. He grabbed Rickard's shoulder and told him to go off and tell the workers they had the rest of the day off, and to get a feast organized for that evening, almost giddy in his excitement. Nomi couldn't remember him being this happy since their wedding day.

Leif sat down in his chair and pulled her into his lap, kissing her deeply. "This is the best news I've all year!" he said. "I'll stay here the whole time. Whatever you need, I'll have Rickard pick it up on one of the supply runs." He suddenly sat up straighter, and she stood as he vaulted out of his chair and practically ran to one of the bookcases, pulling one of the volumes off the shelf.

He opened to the last page and showed her the latest entry, written in his handwriting. "See, I've filled our names into the genealogy. I've been hoping to make another entry in this for a long time." He put his arm around Nomi's shoulders as he gestured at her belly with the book. "Now we're another step closer to becoming a great family again."

Nomi kissed him on the cheek. "It can only get better from here."

He nodded, and they sat down in the chair again, gazing into the fire and dreaming of the bright future ahead.

-

* * *

Author's Note: There are three more chapters after this, one of them being an epilogue. As always, reviews, good or bad(preferably good) are always appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

Six

"He's beautiful."

Nomi Fenris, her hair plastered to her forehead with sweat and her face practically aglow with happiness, looked down at her son. He yawned widely, his tiny hands moving about, and she gently kissed him on the forehead before handing the boy to his father.

Leif was every inch the proud father as he cradled the newborn in his arms. "Hey there," he said gently. "My son. Link. Welcome to the world."

He walked back over to Nomi and sat down next to her, putting one arm around her shoulders and touching his head to hers. They looked down at their son together, love swelling in their hearts for the child and each other.

Nomi knew she would treasure this moment for the rest of her life, the three of them, finally a family, at the start of their new life.

"Hey, you two. How is he?" The boy's uncle, Rickard, poked his head into the room, grinning widely.

Leif waved him in, and Rickard came over to stand next to the bed, looking down at his new nephew. He reached out a finger, and Link grabbed onto it, cooing.

Rickard chuckled quietly. "Ooh, he's got a grip on him. He must get that from his mother." He grinned as the parents laughed with him. They spent a few more minutes looking at the new addition to the family.

The doctor stood from the chair where he had been sitting and waved the men away. "All right, now. Let's let the new mother rest, shall we? It's been a long day."

Everyone but Leif left the room, and the parents spent the rest of the evening with their son, Link, named after his noble ancestor. Nomi found herself wondering suddenly what sort of man her son would be, here at the beginning of his life. Would he follow in his ancestor's footsteps? What would he be like as he grew? His life was a blank slate, and it would be her duty to fill it with the proper values, to make sure he was a good person, and that he would never repeat the terrible actions of his ancestors.

Nomi put such thoughts from her mind and instead focused on the new life in her arms. He was sleeping now, and she smiled at seeing how peaceful he was.

-

* * *

Link grew quickly, and the first few months of his life were eventful for the Fenris family. The mining operation grew more and more successful, and Leif and Rickard often discussed how soon would be the best time to take the company independent. The workers continued to give their full effort to the endeavor, and Leif would often meet with them and give speeches detailing his plans for the company to motivate them.

They found themselves getting used to the eternal cold, and devoted their time to continuing to fix up the manor and occasionally exploring newly discovered shafts in the mines. The mines hadn't lasted more than three hundred years for nothing, and were still putting out more treasures than they knew what to do with.

The suspicious accidents continued; even with the increased security the family set up, tunnels continued to collapse for no reason, bridges disappeared, and once workers started disappearing as well, Leif organized stronger security and personally led a thorough search of the explored sections of the mine. All unused passages were sealed off, and guards were posted around the clock in all parts of the mine, constantly on the alert for intruders.

At times Leif wondered where the Sheikah were, as he knew they had attempted to protect the manor or something in it before, but the mysterious warriors gave no indication that they were still watching the mansion.

Life continued in the mountains, and all hoped that, despite setbacks, all would turn out in the end.

-

* * *

One day, almost a year after Link was born, Leif was inspecting a newfound cavern with his brother and the foreman of the mines, a tough, gray-haired older man named Jedrick, when the elder Fenris heard an ominous creaking noise coming from the timber supporting the rock wall next to him.

"Move!" he shouted, grabbing the arms of the other two men.

The tunnel began to collapse behind them as they ran, and they barely managed to dive to safety as tons of rock came crashing down almost on top of them. They waited for the dust to settle before moving, hoping the tunnel wouldn't collapse further.

Jedrick swore, picking up a chunk of rock and hurling it at the collapsed tunnel behind them. "That's the fourth tunnel this year. I _know_ none of my men are causing these."

Rickard brushed the rock dust off of his clothes. "This has to be sabotage. There's no other way this could be happening."

Leif turned to Jedrick. "You're sure none of the guards have seen anything?"

Jedrick sighed. "No, sir, they have not. We've got these caves sealed up tighter than the royal vault, and we only crack the walls open when we start mining in those tunnels. If they're still getting through, there must be tunnels going through here that we don't know about. These mines ran for what, two hundred years? There's gotta be some tunnels that didn't get marked on a map."

Leif nodded slowly. He clapped Jedrick on the shoulder and smiled. "Hey, this isn't your fault. Come on, let's go tell the others what happened, and I'll buy you a drink."

Jedrick chuckled. "Thanks. I need one after that."

After they informed the other workers of what had happened, another massive search was organized, and the Fenris brothers led the workers in thoroughly inspecting the explored tunnels and caverns for any hidden passages.

Before setting out, they consulted the latest map of the mines with Jedrick, rolling it out on a table in the first storage cavern. Jedrick had been marking the tunnels where each accident occurred, and they studied his notes to see if there was a pattern. Rickard was the first to spot it.

"There," he said, pointing to the latest collapse, "see that? All of these accidents are in a big circle. None of them are outside the circle, and I think these are the guard checkpoints." He pointed to several places on the map. "We thought that someone was sneaking in from outside, and that's how the checkpoints are set up. What if they're coming from _inside_ the mines?"

Leif nodded. "There must be another entrance somewhere that they're coming from." He looked up at the others. "Let's find it and seal it off."

The brothers each led a team, scouring the tunnels and caverns they were using for any passages, and to their surprise, found several.

The Sheikah's warning was the furthest thing from Leif's mind at the time, and he ordered all the hidden passages sealed off. He dimly thought that perhaps the fur-and-leather clad warriors he and his brother had found on the original expedition were responsible, but a thousand other worries clouded his mind, and he did not make the connection, too busy with trying to get the mines running smoother.

It took them a good part of a week to get all the hidden passages sealed off, and security was increased yet again. Some countermeasures were deployed, such as scattering loose dirt over tunnels after work closed for the day, which the guards would check on their rounds to see if it had been disturbed. Doors were added to the most important tunnels and caverns, with heavy locks that could only be opened from the outside.

The potential danger saboteurs that knew the tunnels better than the workers presented somehow did not register with anyone, and work picked up again at its normal pace.

-

* * *

Two more years passed without incident, and everyone began to relax, eventually forgetting about the sabotage. Link was almost three when everything started to go wrong.

First, there was a major cave-in in the mines. It was so large that they felt it in the manor, and Leif immediately rushed to the mines, trying to find out what had happened amid the chaos. Choking dust hung in the air, and the workers were scrambling about in panic, some fleeing and some gathering up tools to go dig out the rubble.

He found Jedrick trying to organize a rescue mission, and he and Rickard joined him, charging though the tunnels to the collapsed cavern.

"What happened?" he asked Jedrick as they ran.

Jedrick swore. "A storage cavern collapsed. We don't know why yet."

"How many were in the cavern?" asked Rickard.

The foreman's voice was pained. "Nearly half of all the workers. I was trying to get the latest shipment ready ahead of schedule."

When they arrived at the entrance to the cavern, they feared the worst. It was totally blocked off by rubble, but there were already people there, frantically digging. They looked up at the arrival of the owners of the company, but immediately went back to trying to rescue their fellows.

The brothers jumped in and dug with them, spending hours trying to get the tunnel cleared. All hoped that there were survivors, and hopes were high when they finally broke through.

Leif wiped the sweat out of his eyes as he leaned into the hole, shining his lantern into the cavern. It was almost totally collapsed, but there were several clear spaces between the piles of rubble. He carefully made his way into the cavern, shining the light of his lantern around, searching for anything that was moving.

To his great sadness and disappointment, all Leif found were the battered and broken bodies of several of his workers. He sat down heavily next to one, sighing deeply. This was a disaster. Why did this happen?

-

* * *

Leif personally presided over the memorial service for the fallen workers, held in the tunnel leading to the place where they had been killed. Those who were gathered had either anger or sadness on their faces, and most of those who had lost someone in the accident were glaring at him as he spoke, as if this had been his fault.

"I don't know why this happened," he said, "but I am deeply sorry that it did. There was no way we could have known this was going to happen, but if I had, I would have done everything I could to prevent it."

One man, whose name Leif remembered as George, stepped forward, pointing his finger at Leif. "You did know this was going to happen! There have been strange accidents ever since we came here, but you kept us working anyway!"

There were angry murmurs of agreement among the crowd, and George continued. "You were so obsessed with getting rich that you made us keep working even though you knew the mines were dangerous!" He spat on the stone floor at Leif's feet. "I say we get out of here before this happens to the rest of us! Who's with me?"

The rest of the workers shouted their affirmations, still glaring at Leif. The elder Fenris was too shocked to say anything, but Rickard stepped in front of him, shouting for attention.

"Now, hold on a minute here. Nobody was making any of you do anything. You're all getting paid good money for a good reason. Mining is dangerous work, and, as much as we wish they wouldn't, things like this happen sometimes. It's nobody's fault. It's not my fault, it's not my brother's fault, and it's certainly not the fault of the people who were killed."

George stepped up to Rickard. "It was sabotage! There was a reason for all those searches we did, and it's because you know somebody's been trying to drive us out of here." He poked a thick finger in Rickard's chest. "Well, I say they succeeded. I'm getting out of here before a tunnel gets collapsed on me, too! Come on, everyone! Let's go while we still can!" He turned and led the crowd of workers back down the tunnel.

"Wait!" Leif called after them. "You can't just give up! It's sad that this happened, but we all still have to provide for our families. We've been working together for almost four years now. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" He was desperate, but even as he spoke, he knew his dream was dissolving around him.

-

* * *

Nomi watched in growing worriment as Leif's mood grew worse by the day. Most of the remaining workers had struck out on their own through the mountains, and even though Leif and Rickard had followed them to try to convince them to stay, they had angrily refused. Some of the loyal ones who stayed kept up their duties, but work had ground virtually to a halt with so few remaining. Two weeks passed like this, and the only thing that could bring a smile to Leif's face anymore was his son, who was now walking and just starting to talk.

A courier arrived at the manor early one morning, and once he delivered the letter, he immediately turned around and left, refusing their offers of a hot meal. Nomi watched him go, wondering what was happening to them. This was all so sudden.

Leif came trudging into their bedroom that afternoon and sat down on the bed, his head in his hands. Nomi sat down next to him and put her arm around his shoulders.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"We're finished," he said quietly. "There aren't enough workers left to keep the mines running, and I just got word that another tunnel collapsed this morning. Three more people are dead."

Nomi knew her husband took every death personally, more so since the big accident, and he would sometimes say that none of these people would be up here and wouldn't have died if he hadn't found the mines in the first place.

He looked up at her, and Nomi was struck by how drained he looked. "We're done. The only thing we can do now is get all these people out of here before they die, too."

She kissed his cheek. "Don't say that. We may have had a few setbacks, but we can still pull through."

He dejectedly pulled the letter the courier had delivered out of the pocket of his vest and wordlessly handed it to her. Nomi read through it and looked up at Leif. He nodded sadly.

The letter he had handed her was a notice informing Leif that Lanayru Mining, Incorporated, was refusing to buy ore from the Fenris Mining Company, and based on word from the workers that had made it back to Hyrule, was recommending a total trade boycott against the organization.

"Why are they doing this?" Nomi asked, her anger rising.

Leif sighed. "They know we're in trouble up here, so they're hoping to drive us out of business so they can claim the mines for themselves."

Nomi crumpled the paper and hurled it into the fireplace. "Unbelievable. How are they even allowed to do this to us?"

"It's because we've had so many accidents. They're trying to make us look like an unsafe company, and a bad investment to anybody who might want to buy from us."

"But you aren't unsafe! None of those accidents were because of anything you or the workers did." Nomi paced in front of the fireplace, trying to keep herself from clenching her fists in frustration.

"I know it isn't anything we're doing. I've known most of the accidents were sabotage for the last four years, but I've never been able to find out who was doing it. When they stopped for almost two years, I thought it was because whoever was doing it was gone, but now that things have begun happening in the mines again, I know someone is trying to drive us out of here."

Nomi stopped and looked at Leif. "You don't think…"

He nodded. "It's probably the descendants of my ancestors' slaves. They're the only ones I can think of that would try this instead of just telling us to get out. Rickard and I have known they were up here since we found this place, but I guess we were just hoping they'd left the area."

Nomi thought back to the day she had found out she was going to have Link, when the two Sheikah warriors had approached her. She still remembered what one of them had said: "I realize that you view this house as belonging to you, but if you are asked to leave, do so without hesitation."

If asked to leave, do so without hesitation. Had they been asked to leave by the first few acts of sabotage, and when they ignored them, had the saboteurs escalated their methods until they collapsed the storage cavern?

"Have you talked this over with any of the others?"

Leif sighed again. "Rickard thinks we should leave, and Jedrick was one of the first ones to go. Anybody who's still here is just waiting for the storm to pass so they can leave, too."

The wind continued to howl outside, the blizzard just starting to get into its fury after starting up at around midday. After almost four years of living up here, Nomi almost didn't notice the storms anymore, since they happened so frequently.

Nomi looked over at her husband, who was still sitting on the bed. "Do you really think we should leave?"

He nodded sadly. "We're finished. We have enough saved up that we won't have to go back to how we were before, but we can't keep the company going anymore. We'll leave when the storm ends."

-

* * *

The storm did not end the next day, or the day after that. It lasted an entire week without letup, and, if anything, it got worse with each passing day, until the very walls of the mansion shook with the force of the wind.

The Fenris family gathered together in the sitting room, a great stack of wood piled next to the fireplace. As far as they knew, the four of them were the only ones in the mansion, and it was unknown if anyone was still in the mine.

Nomi sat in a chair next to the fireplace, her son in her lap. Link was surprisingly quiet, but then, he had never been much for crying. With the tremendous racket the storm was causing, she had expected him to be wailing in fear, and she was even scared herself, but Link's face was utterly serene, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. His deep blue eyes, so much like his father's, wandered about the room, sometimes watching his father and uncle.

Leif and Rickard were both pacing like caged animals, and both occasionally opened one of the doors leading out of the sitting room to check on the other rooms. No one was touching the door to the entry hall, as it was obvious the wind had torn the patches off the roof and had gotten inside.

With a sudden roar, the howling of the wind intensified a hundredfold, until Nomi thought the manor was going to be ripped right off the foundation. She could hear ice raining against the roof, hammering in a staccato rhythm against the wood and stone, and it seemed as if the fury of an angered deity was being directed against their home, a titanic storm to drive them out once and for all.

She squeezed Link tighter against her body, and she could feel his small hands gripping her arms, betraying fear for the first time. Nomi felt arms encircle her, and she knew without looking that Leif was embracing his family, as if to protect them from the fury of the storm with his own body.

The wind rose to an eerie wail, as if the anguished keening of some otherworldly creature. There were several great crashing booms, and Nomi knew the storm was knocking more holes in the already damaged mansion.

It went on like this for hours, until suddenly, like a candle being blown out, there was utter silence.

The four of them bundled up in their furs and heavy cloaks, and Leif and Rickard hefted the packs that contained all the possessions they were taking from here.

The family went out into the entry hall, and saw that the hole in the roof had been reopened, with snow coating almost everything inside. Amazingly, the portraits hanging on the walls were undisturbed, while both staircases were smashed. It was strange, the things that survived nature's fury.

They picked their way to the front door and forced it open, requiring quite a bit of work from the two brothers. The staircase was covered in snow, but the family managed to make their way down to the small stone courtyard at the bottom.

Leif, Nomi, Rickard and Link stopped in the courtyard for one last look at the mansion that had belonged to their family for three centuries, had been their home for four years, and had been the place where a bright future for them almost started. It was depressing to leave it behind, knowing their dream had been crushed.

With a suddenness that made Nomi gasp and pull her son closer to her, several figures appeared over the railing of the staircase, moving with agility despite their heavy clothes. More of the figures appeared ahead of them, and the two brothers drew their swords, moving on either side of Nomi and Link.

The people surrounding them were dressed in roughly made garments of fur and leather, their hair long and worked into intricate braids that hung out of their hoods. The group was made up of both men and women, and all looked lean and tough, used to the hard life living out of doors up here. One man, tall and broad-shouldered, stepped forward, stopping a few feet away from the family.

Leif raised his sword to point at the man. "We don't want any trouble. We're leaving before the storm picks up again, and we won't be back."

The man lowered his hood, revealing a rugged face, half-masked by a thick beard, his long dark hair in contrast to his pale skin.

"It's too late for that," he said. "You have desecrated our sacred ground for almost four years, and you must pay for your sacrilege." His voice was deep, and he had a bit of an accent, but his words were easily understandable.

Leif kept his sword between the man and his family. "We didn't know the mines were sacred to you. We thought they were abandoned."

The man sneered. "You thought you could turn a profit from the place where our ancestors died by the hundreds over two hundred years of oppression." He took a step closer, unconcerned by Leif's weapon, and raised an accusatory finger. "Where _ your_ ancestors killed any that dissented, and for hundreds of years treated thinking beings like cattle."

Leif slowly lowered his sword, but Nomi noticed his fingers maintain a tight grip on the hilt. "Are you the ones who were sabotaging the tunnels?"

The man scowled at them, his grey eyes fierce. "You should not have come here. We told your ancestor when he left never to return, or else we would see to it that he was unable to use the mines. You ignored that warning, and your workers have paid the price for your arrogance."

"We didn't know about any warning!" Rickard said from behind Nomi. "We didn't even know anyone was up here." She heard him sheathe his sword. "When my brother and I came up here, we were looking for the mines, but we had no idea our ancestors used slaves. Randall Fenris disappeared from royal custody, and he told his children nothing about any warning."

The fur-clad man scoffed. "Do not lie to me. Your family made its living off the suffering of others, and your ways have not changed over the centuries. You are an evil family, and you deserve death for all that you visited upon my ancestors." He gestured sharply, and the gathered mountain people drew weapons, slowly advancing on the Fenris family.

Leif raised his sword. "Wait! You had to have been watching us since we came here. In four years, did you ever see me or my brother beat any of the workers? When did you ever see any one of us treat anyone like a slave? We paid our workers good money, and never forced anyone to do anything!"

The leader of the mountain people's expression grew dark and indignant. "Do not try to talk your way out of this, slavemaster. Only with your deaths will the suffering of my ancestors be set into balance."

Leif lowered his sword again. "You may do whatever you want with me, but please, let the others go. I am the head of the family, and if you feel that you need to kill someone in retribution for what your ancestors went through, it should be me."

Nomi tried to rush toward him, but Rickard held her back. "You have to stay with Link!" he hissed in her ear. "They might spare you if you do."

Leif continued. "I am truly sorry for what my ancestors did to yours, and there is nothing I can do to change what happened, but know that I was horrified to learn what they did. I vowed not to repeat their mistakes, and to instead follow the example of other members of my family. You must know of Peter Fenris, who helped over a hundred slaves escape?"

The mountain warrior stepped forward and struck Leif across the face with the back of his hand, knocking him to the ground. "Be quiet! Your lies will not spare you. At least have enough honor to die with dignity."

Leif looked up at the man. "Please, spare the others. My son is not even three yet. You wouldn't kill an innocent child for things he had no part in, would you?"

The mountain warrior looked over at Nomi, his grey eyes hard. She pulled Link behind her, gripping his tiny hand tightly in her own. "Please, just let us go," she said desperately, "and we'll never come back here. We'll even make sure no one else tries to come up here after we leave."

"Only death will buy your silence," the mountain warrior said. "Your workers have already been silenced, and you are all that remains. We will never again be oppressed by your family, for it ends today."

"No!" Leif scrambled on his knees to the leader of the mountain people, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "My son's life has just begun. Spare him and his mother, please. You can do anything you want to me, but please, just let them go!" His voice was desperate, and he looked over at his family.

The tall man reached down and grabbed Leif's collar, hauling him to his feet. He looked over at Link, and then back at the boy's father. His expression softened slightly behind his thick beard.

"I will spare your son and his mother, for he is only a child, and she does not share your evil blood." His face grew abruptly hard again, and he drove his fist into Leif's stomach, throwing him to the ground. "But you will die for what your people did to mine. This is justice."

The mountain warrior drew a sword, raising it above his head, but Rickard drew his own and rushed at the man. The mountain warrior stepped away from Leif and sidestepped Rickard's charge, spinning quickly and lowering his weapon. He gestured at Rickard, and two of his warriors grabbed the younger Fenris, forcing his sword out of his hand and holding his arms at his sides.

Leif jumped to his feet, but the leader of the mountain people punched him in the stomach again, knocking him to the ground. He advanced on Rickard, and Leif was restrained by another of the mountain people, struggling violently to get free.

Without hesitation and without any sign of remorse, the leader of the mountain warriors drove his sword into Rickard's chest, jerking it viciously out as the two warriors that had been holding Rickard released him.

Nomi covered Link's eyes, shocked to her core as Rickard collapsed to his knees, his mouth working but no words emerging. A wordless cry of pain and sorrow tore its way out of her husband, and he broke free of his captor and dashed for his brother, but was stopped by the leader of the mountain people, who grabbed his cloak and threw him to the ground again, savagely kicking him in the back.

The leader gestured at him, and the two burly men wrapped in furs hauled Leif to his feet again, holding his arms behind his back. The leader punched Leif several more times, finally grabbing him by the hair and driving his knee into Leif's chin. He grabbed Leif's collar before he could fall to the ground, and savagely punched him in the face again, throwing him over to where his brother lay on the ground.

"Animals!" Nomi screamed, her arms wrapped protectively around her son. Link was still quiet, but she could feel him shaking.

The man stalked over to her and leaned down until his face was mere inches from hers. "Go," he said, pointing up at the road that lead out to Hyrule. "You have the rest of the day to leave our territory." He looked down at the boy. "For both your sakes, never tell your child of this place, and see to it that he does not return here."

Nomi brought out the dagger in the pocket of her coat and held it between the man and her son. "If you even touch one hair on my son's head…"

The mountain warrior gestured again at the path. "I am giving you your freedom, woman. Do not make me change my mind." He raised his sword, stained with his victim's blood, and turned to go back to where Leif knelt over his brother, who was completely still.

"NO!" Nomi screamed, running over to grab the mountain warrior's arm. He shook her off, so she scooped Link up and dashed in front of the boy's father, holding the child up. "Don't do this, please! He needs his father!"

"Get out of my way. This must be done." He moved to step around her.

Nomi set Link down and fell to her knees, pleading. "Please, I need him! Don't take him from me." She felt hot tears running down her face, and she grabbed the mountain warrior's arm. "Do it for my son. He needs his father!" She sobbed. "Don't take Leif away, please! I'll do anything!" She clutched her son, and she felt him shaking, still quiet but clearly upset.

The man scowled down at her, and he looked over at Leif. He still knelt over his brother, and his face was resigned. He tried to put on a brave face, and he slowly stood, spreading his hands.

"Please, let my wife and son go. Don't make them watch this." He was practically shaking with emotion. "Please," he whispered, his voice cracking.

The leader of the mountain warriors said a word that might have been a curse and scowled furiously at Leif. He sheathed his sword, and waved sharply at where Nomi still knelt, holding Link tight.

Two of the warriors grabbed Leif and roughly shoved him toward his wife and son. Leif tried to go back to where Rickard lay, but the leader of the mountain people grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back.

"If you are not out of our territory by sundown, you will all have the same fate as that one. This includes your son." He narrowed his eyes. "I suggest you start walking."

Leif set his jaw and drew himself up, putting his arm around his wife and guiding her away from the mansion and over to the path, glaring at the mountain warrior as he did so.

As they walked, Nomi could see the tears welling up in her husband's eyes, and they rose in hers also as they left their home behind.

-

* * *

The fur-clad warriors followed them to the peak, remaining well behind them, but ever-present, until they reached the cavern at the top of the mountain.

Two warriors appeared in front of them and rolled the door open, waiting until the Fenris family passed through it before rolling it closed again. Leif sighed heavily beside Nomi as they did so, and led the way to the bottom of the cavern.

Once there, he concentrated on getting a fire lit, and once he had succeeded, he sat against the wall and buried his face in his hands.

Nomi bundled Link up in her fur coat, and waited until the boy had fallen asleep before she joined her husband.

He looked up at her as she sat down next to him, his eyes red and a few tears making their way down his face. "Are we cursed, Nomi?" he said quietly.

"Why do you say that?" she said, putting her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Things haven't been right for our family ever since the royal family arrested Randall Fenris a century ago. Do you think, when the Queen examined his heart with the Triforce of Wisdom, the gods saw that he and his family were not sorry and cursed them for what they had done?"

Nomi lifted her head to look up at her husband, and was struck by the abject sorrow and despair that hung upon his face.

Staring into the fire, he continued. "We were once the most powerful family in Hyrule, and it was all taken away. What if I had no right to try and take it back? What if all this," he gestured out with one hand, "was because of me? I should have known the descendants of my ancestors' slaves were still here, and would be angry when I reopened the mines."

Leif's voice became bitter. "But no. I _had_ to reclaim my family's lost wealth. I ignored all the warnings, and the price has been my brother's life and very nearly ours too. We _are_ cursed." He hung his head. "All my life, I was never very successful at anything, no matter how hard I tried. The gods have been punishing me for the crimes of my ancestors."

Nomi touched his chin, raising his head so she could look into his eyes. "You are a good man. You are a good father, a good husband, and I love you very much. You have only been trying to provide for your family, and not even the cruelest god could punish that."

"Then why did Rickard have to die? What did he do to deserve what happened to him?" Leif looked up at the ceiling of the cavern as he answered his own question. "He didn't deserve to die. They murdered him for no reason. I can't imagine it; to be so full of hate that they would be willing to kill someone who had done nothing against them."

Another tear made its way down Leif's face, and he fell silent. Nomi felt her own tears welling up for Rickard, and she laid her head on Leif's chest.

Together, they mourned him, spending the night holding each other and their son against the pain in their hearts.

-

* * *

Author's Note: That was hard to write. I spent the story up to this point describing their hopes and dreams, and it all goes to hell in this chapter. The next(and final) chapter will be even harder, and after that will be an epilogue. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter, as I was out of my comfort zone for the end of this chapter, and I hope it had the right impact. Much thanks goes to my beta reader, Seldavia, for all her help with this chapter and the story so far. The next chapter should be up soon.


	7. Chapter 7

Seven

The next morning, the Fenris family made their way down the mountain, headed for the frozen river at the base that lead to Zora's Domain.

They trudged through the snow, Leif in the lead, and by the end of the day, Nomi was so tired she could barely put one foot in front of the other. Link rode on her back under her heavy fur coat, and he was asleep by the time they reached the river, his head on her shoulder as he slumbered.

Once they arrived at the frozen shore, Leif found that there was still one boat tied up on this side, and they climbed in. Leif pushed off with one of the oars that were still inside, and he rowed them down the frozen river, steering around ice floes, to the outpost they had found nearly four years ago that they had been using for shipping.

Nomi watched as Leif rowed, Link in her lap, and was unable to determine what her husband was thinking. His face was a stony mask, betraying no emotion. He did not speak for the entire trip, and remained silent as he pulled the boat up to the small dock at the outpost, jumping out and securing it.

He helped his wife and son out of the boat, and then shouldered his pack, sighing quietly as he looked at the abandoned buildings of the outpost. They appeared to have been thoroughly looted by the workers as they left, and they continued past them, on to the bridge over a chasm that led to Hyrule.

Leif started across the bridge that had been rebuilt over the chasm years earlier, when they had fixed up the outpost to get it running again, and they were almost to the end when the fur-clad warriors reappeared.

A dozen of them sprang into sight out of nowhere, and one chased the Fenris family the rest of the way across the bridge, his sword drawn and screaming wildly at them.

Leif hurried Nomi to the other side, and she felt Link tense on her back, his tiny hands clutching her shoulders. Once they were on the other end of the bridge, Leif drew his sword and stepped in front of Nomi and Link.

"We're leaving, damn you! Are you so eager for blood that you'll kill us even after you said you'd let us go?" He was angry and defiant, and Nomi had a sudden fear that he would throw himself at the warrior to revenge his brother.

The fur-and-leather-clad warrior loomed over Leif, easily a foot taller. "Get out of the way!" he snarled, waving them away from the bridge.

Leif backed away slowly, his sword in front of him, and the three of them watched as the mountain warriors swarmed over the bridge, hacking away at it with axes. They were frenzied in their efforts, and the group cheered as the bridge finally began to weaken and collapsed into the chasm, falling quickly out of sight.

The warrior who had chased them across the bridge approached the Fenris family again. "Remember what you were told: Make no attempt to return here, or you will be shown the same mercy your ancestors showed ours."

He turned and climbed up the side of the cliff next to them, making his way back across the chasm to where the rest of his fellows awaited. The warriors moved quickly up the mountain, and were soon out of sight.

With heavy hearts, Leif and Nomi set off on the road to Hyrule, leaving the Snowpeak Mountains behind forever.  
-

* * *

They stopped in Castle Town, and there Leif sold off the rest of the jewelry and other small valuables he had brought along from the mansion. They rented a room at an inn for the night, and once Link was asleep, his parents discussed what to do next.

"We can always go back to the ranch," Nomi said. "We have enough money now that we can fix it up and hire enough hands that you don't have to do all the work yourself."

Leif ran one hand though his hair, leaving it on the back of his head. "I don't want to move back there. I think we need a fresh start. We'll sell the ranch to Tobert, since he's been managing it for us for years anyway. Then we'll take our best horses and move to a village in one of the outlying provinces."

He was silent for a long moment, deep in thought. Leif thought back to a conversation he'd had with a friendly Hyrule Soldier years ago on his trip back from the original expedition. The man had gone into a detailed description of his home village, a tiny farming and ranching community called Ordon. It sounded pleasant, the kind of place where they could live out the rest of their lives in peace, perhaps benefiting the people there with what was left of their wealth.

Leif told Nomi about Ordon, and she nodded throughout his description.

She put her hand on his arm. "It's up to you, Leif. As long as I have you and Link, I don't need anything else."

As they went to sleep that night, Leif lay awake for a long time, listening to his wife's breathing and the quieter sound of his son's. He smiled slightly in the darkness. Nomi was right. As long as he had her and his son, he didn't need anything fancy. Life in a small ranching town would be hard work, but he was used to hard work.

It would take his mind off all the painful memories his life in the mountains had created.  
-

* * *

After a short journey south, the Fenris family came to their small ranch, with its one-story house, simple in design, and many corrals and pastures surrounding it. There were many horses in the pastures, and a few looked up at their arrival, but mostly went back to grazing.

They did not see Hingo, their hired hand, or Tobert, their neighbor who had been managing the ranch in their absence, and they let themselves into the house. Leif stopped short, and Nomi saw him tense and his hand drop to the sword at his side, his other behind his back, gesturing her away.

She peeked over his shoulder, and gasped in surprise as she saw two figures standing a few feet away. They were the same two Sheikah agents who had approached her nearly four years ago, the day she had found out she was going to have Link.

"Please, come inside," the man said. His hair was a little longer than the last time Nomi had seen him, and he had acquired a scar just above his left eyebrow, but it was definitely the same man.

Nomi touched her husband's shoulder and told him who the intruders were.

He nodded, his face suspicious. "What are you doing in my house?"

The woman circled around behind them and closed the door. "We just need to know what you brought back from the manor with you."

Leif kept his hand on his sword. "Why?"

The male Sheikah kept his hands at his sides. "We know you researched your ancestor, the one known as the Hero of Lightning. His equipment is in a secret chamber in the mansion you occupied up till recently. We're just making sure you didn't bring any of it back with you."

Leif frowned. "What secret chamber? We never found anything like that."

The woman spoke from behind them. "You never found anything that looked like a sarcophagus?"

Nomi shook her head. "No."

The man's expression brightened slightly. "Good. We'll leave you in peace, then."

His expression furious, Leif drew his sword and pointed it at the male Sheikah in one quick motion. "You're not leaving just yet."

The man held up his hands, but remained calm. "You are understandably upset over the death of your brother, but there's no cause for-"

"Shut up!" Leif snarled. Nomi looked over at him, surprised. He never acted like this.

He stepped forward, until the tip of his sword rested on the Sheikah's collar. "You're going to tell me why, if you knew those humans were up there, you didn't give us more warning, and why, if you know my brother is dead, you didn't do anything to stop it. Weren't you investigating the mines?" His voice was low and dangerous, full of pain and anger.

The woman answered. "We have no interest in the mines. The only reason we keep watch on that area is to prevent anyone but the next Hero from finding the Hero of Lightning's weapons cache. His son Endrew built a tomb for his father into the foundations of his mansion, but since his father did not leave a body behind, Endrew put his equipment in the tomb as a memorial. There are several objects of power that Link Fenris collected throughout his career stored in the tomb, the Staff of Lightning chief among them, and it is of vital importance to us that no one but one chosen by the gods finds them."

Leif lowered his sword. He took a deep breath, and once he had released it, he looked up at the man again. "Get out. I never want to see you or any of your kind again."

The man straightened his tunic as he spoke. "We are sorry the humans killed your brother. I suppose we should have been more detailed in our warning, but-"

Leif interrupted him again. "You could have told us more about the humans, and how they viewed the mines as their sacred ground. If I had known that, I wouldn't have tried to start the mines up again. If I had known I was angering them by being in their sacred place, I would have turned right around and left on my first trip there." He stepped forward and poked his finger in the Sheikah's chest. "If I had known they were angry enough to kill my family, I wouldn't have stayed. There was no other way for me to know, and since you had already decided to warn us in part about them, I place my brother's death squarely on you." He grabbed the Sheikah's tunic, clenching his fist around the dark fabric as he leaned in closer. "Rickard wouldn't have died if you had told us more."

With a quick, deft movement, the male Sheikah freed himself from Leif's grip and ducked around behind him. "We are sorry for all that has happened to your family," he said, "but, not to be insensitive, we have far more pressing matters than your family's business to attend to. We have severely limited manpower, and every agent is needed on matters of greater importance than a mining company deep in the mountains."

Leif pointed at the door. "Get out."

The woman paused at the doorway. "Again, we are sorry that-"

"Get out!" he shouted.

The two Sheikah left.

Nomi was again surprised. Leif almost never raised his voice to anyone. "Leif?" she said.

He sighed deeply, sheathing his sword. "I'm sorry. It's just that I…" he broke off, sighing again.

She touched his arm. "I understand. You scared me a little."

He looked over at her, his blue eyes betraying the pain that his face did not show. "I'm sorry," he said again. He looked around at the small house, so full of memories for both of them. "Come on. Let's decide what we're taking with us to Ordon and then let's get out of here as soon as we can."

She nodded silently, and the two of them began picking up the pieces of their old life to bring to their new one.  
-

* * *

They spent a few days packing, loading their most treasured possessions into trunks, which Leif loaded onto a wagon. They also kept their two best horses, and their foal, which had only been born a few weeks previous.

All the other horses were included in the sale of the ranch to their neighbor Tobert, and the older, balding man eagerly handed over what Leif asked for, knowing the ranch and all the horses were worth three times the amount he was paying. Leif also knew this, but did not care, not concerned with money. Tobert had been a good friend and neighbor to them, and Leif was more than willing to give him a discount.

Leif hitched their horses to the wagon, and with the foal tied behind, helped his family into the wagon and set off down the road. He did not look back as their former home passed out of sight, determined to move on to the new life he was planning, trying to forget about his old one.

They made good time, and followed the main road south to the entrance to Faron Woods, the beginning part of the sprawling forest that covered most of southern Hyrule and the outlying provinces. Ordona Province and Ordon Village were just through these woods. All they had to do was follow the road.

Link, who sat between his parents on the wagon, actually seemed to be enjoying the trip, his young mind apparently unfazed by what he had seen in the mountains, and whenever they stopped, he would toddle over to the foal, a red-brown filly with a white mane and tail, and the two would play together.

It was on one such rest stop that Leif was surprised by a sudden gasp from his wife. He dropped the bucket with which he had been fetching water and hurried back to the wagon, his hand on his sword.

A group of rough-looking men dressed in filthy clothes that looked vaguely like uniforms stood around his wagon, swords drawn and broad, avaricious grins on their faces. Their leader spotted Leif and held his sword out at him.

"Hello there. How about giving us these nice chests you've got here, rich man? You're obviously well-off enough to help out a group of poor individuals like ourselves, so I'm sure you won't mind a donation." The man was of medium height, and was solidly built, if a little on the lean side. His hair was lank and greasy, and untended stubble covered his craggy face like a forest on a mountainside. He obviously hadn't bathed in quite some time, and his clothes, like those of the men with him, were in poor shape, stained and patched many times over, but their weapons would have impressed a drill instructor, gleaming in the forest sunlight.

Leif left his hand at his side, resting on the hilt of his sword. After all he had been through, he had little patience for bandits. His sadness at being forced from the mountains and his grief and anger at his brother's death made him bold, and he regarded the bandit leader with a fierce scowl.

"Go away," he said. "Leave me and my family alone, scum."

"Scum?" The bandit leader regarded Leif with exaggerated surprise. "Why, sir, we're just a humble band of former soldiers trying to make a living. Surely you wouldn't begrudge us a few of your baubles?" He grinned maliciously, displaying his yellowed teeth. "Say, all of them?"

His men chuckled nastily at this, and one of them advanced on Nomi, his hand outstretched to seize her necklace. Her hand came out of her pocket holding a dagger, and she held it up, the glint in her eye letting the bandit know she wasn't afraid to use it.

Leif drew his sword, facing the bandit leader. "No one has to die here. Leave us alone. We're just making our way south, and if you give us no trouble, you'll receive none in return."

The bandit leader put on an exaggerated expression of disbelief, turning to his men. "That sounds like a threat. What happens when they threaten us back?"

One of the other bandits, barely containing his laughter, replied. "We kill 'em anyway, boss, and then take everything."

The bandit leader turned back to Leif. "Exactly." He spread his hands, waving his sword at the wagon. "Now, I'm a reasonable man. I'll give you one more chance to willingly give me a few of your trinkets, rich man, in exchange for your life. Otherwise, I'll kill you and take 'em all."

Leif's anger was slowly rising, and to his mind, still full of grief over Rickard's death, the bandits in their rough and dirty clothes looked similar to the mountain warriors who had murdered his brother and threatened his family.

"No," he said, his voice low and dangerous, "I'll give _you_ one more chance to leave my family in peace."

The bandit leader laughed derisively. "Well, boys, it looks like we got ourselves a hero. Seems he wants to do this the hard way." His voice and expression became abruptly serious. "Get him."  
-

* * *

Link hid behind a clump of bushes as his father talked to the bad men. All he knew was that they were acting like they were going to hurt his mommy and daddy, and he was scared. He wanted to run to his parents, but he didn't want the bad men to see him, either. He didn't know what to do.

His new friend, the horse that was small like him, hid behind the bushes with him. Her mommy and daddy were over with the wagon with Link's parents, too, and he knew she must be scared just like he was.

The boy heard a noise behind him, and he turned to see a tall, pretty lady with golden hair in a long green dress standing behind him. She beckoned to him with one hand, a gentle smile on her face, and Link felt a sudden urge to follow her.

He heard metal clashing together and shouting, and he turned to look, but the lady in the green dress walked over to block his view.

"Come with me, Link," she said. Her voice was as gentle as her smile, but she seemed sad, somehow.

She reached out a hand to the boy, and as he took it, Link felt a funny tingling feeling in his hand. The lady in the green dress gently pulled him along, and Link walked beside her, his little horse friend following along behind him.

Link kept turning to look back, trying to see his parents, but the lady in the green dress did not slow. He felt safe with her. Maybe his parents had left the bad men behind, and she was taking him to where they were, since he didn't hear anything from the forest behind him.

Link, the lady in the green dress, and Link's horse friend crossed a bridge over a river, and then passed a spring. They kept going on a path through the pretty forest, and Link looked around at all the trees, once seeing a squirrel running across a branch. He pointed at it, and the lady in the green dress with the golden hair smiled down at him. She still seemed sad, but Link didn't know why.

When they reached a clearing in the forest, with a big tree growing on one side, the woman knelt down in front of Link and took his small hands in her own. He felt the funny tingling feeling in his hand again as she talked to him.

"Go on, Link. You and your friend will be safe here." She turned to leave, and Link looked up at her, wondering where his mommy and daddy were.

Link was distracted by more tingling in his hand and a brief flare of light. He looked down, and was surprised to see a triangle on his hand made of gold. It slowly faded into black, and the boy looked up at the lady in the green dress again, silently asking her what had happened.

She smiled at him again and reached down to brush the hair out of his eyes. She left her hand on his cheek, and she looked him in the eye. He saw that her eyes were green, almost the same color as her dress.

"You will be safe here, Link. Know that I love you, and will be watching over you." Her face became a little softer. "You are never alone, Link, even when you might feel that way. Your life will not be an easy one, but your spirit is strong, and there is no challenge too strong for you to overcome." The lady in the green dress leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.

She stood, still smiling down at him. Link hadn't understood most of what she had just said, but felt reassured anyway. As he watched, she turned and walked through the wooden gate. Link followed her, curious, but she got out of his sight, and when he sped up to find her, all he saw were a lot of buildings and a lot of people, none of them faces he knew.

Link sat down at the wooden gate, and the horse that was little like him sat next to him. Link suddenly felt very tired, and he laid his head on the little horse's back, quickly going to sleep.  
-

* * *

"Oh, honestly, Hanch! Can't you do anything?" Sera frowned at her husband. He had just dropped a crate full of milk when he slipped, and was now trying to pick up the broken pieces of the bottles, only he slipped on the spilled milk again.

The shopkeeper shook her head at the sight, resting her hands on her hips. Something over by the village gate caught her eye as she did so, and Sera squinted over at the gate, shading her eyes with one hand.

To her surprise, it was a small boy and a foal, and she recognized neither. Bo, the newly appointed mayor of Ordon Village, was passing by, and Sera waved at him to get his attention.

"What is it?" he said as he walked over to her.

"Over there, by the gate. Whose boy is that, Bo?"

The mayor squinted at the gate, also shading his eyes with one thick hand. "I don't know. I haven't seen him before." He turned to call to another man standing in front of his house. "Hey, Rusl! C'mere!"

Rusl, a young man who had just returned from serving as a soldier in Hyrule, came jogging over to them. Bo pointed out the boy, and the two men and Sera went over to him.

Sera noticed his pointed ears immediately, which meant he was Hylian. He was a cute little thing, with a mop of dark blond hair that fell over his face as he slept, his head on the foal's back that was with him. His clothes were of fine quality, and he looked very healthy, also. The three adults looked around to see if there were parents nearby, but they didn't see anyone.

Rusl scratched his chin, on which was the beginnings of a beard. "He's not from the village. Maybe his parents are merchants passing through the woods, and he got separated."

Bo looked over at Sera. "Can you watch him while me an' Rusl go look for his parents? I'm sure they're worried about him, but one of the ranch hands said he saw some bandits in the woods earlier. I think he should stay here for now."

The shopkeeper nodded, looking down at the boy. He was still asleep, but the foal was watching them, and Sera reached down to scratch it behind the ears.

Rusl went back to his house to fetch his sword, and when he came back, he handed another to Bo. The two men set off into the woods, and Sera sat down next to the boy, far enough away that he wouldn't be surprised by her when he woke up.  
-

* * *

Rusl and Bo walked down the forest path, leaving their swords sheathed, but at the ready, and looked around for the child's parents.

Rusl hoped for the best, but he had seen too much during his time as a soldier, and feared that the boy's parents had been the victims of a bandit attack. There had been a proliferation of lawless men and monsters in Hyrule lately, and the army never seemed inclined to do much about either. His frustration at this had been one of the reasons Rusl had headed back to his village as soon as he could after his tour of duty was up. His fellow soldiers had told him he was crazy to give up the sure job and steady pay of the army, but Rusl knew he could do more good putting his skills to use in defense of his home village than he could in the capital.

As he and Bo neared the spring in Faron Woods, Rusl caught sight of something. The setting sun's rays were reflecting off a piece of metal, and as he drew closer, he could see it was a small dagger in the grass.

He picked it up, and noted the blood on the blade. The grass was flattened next to it, as if a body had fallen there, but had been moved. There was a little blood on the grass, and at Bo's call, Rusl looked over to see the mayor holding up a scrap of bloodstained cloth.

Further exploration revealed more signs of a battle, but no bodies. Rusl found several sets of hoof prints, and deduced that at least two horses had been here. Rusl used what he had learned as a soldier -some of which he had taught himself- to try and piece together what had happened here.

As Bo looked on, Rusl examined the footprints and slashed grass and trees. It appeared that a group of five or six individuals had attacked another group who had a wagon, and the owners of the wagon had attempted to defend themselves. It appeared to Rusl that at least three people had been killed, from the flattened grass and the residue upon it, but from there things became muddled, and he was uncertain who had won.

Someone had left in the wagon, and they had taken all the bodies with them. Rusl felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he thought about the probable winners of the fight.

Bo had found something else in the meantime, and he held it up for Rusl to see. It was a sword, of the kind used by the Hyrule army, and its tip was red.

The two men exchanged sad looks as they both realized what had happened here. The boy they had found back in the village was likely an orphan now.

The former soldier sighed. He hated all that was happening these days, as Hyrule slumped further into decay under its king, whose wits had slowly been leaving him, more so since the Queen died about a year ago. His oldest daughter and heir, who had been named Zelda in the tradition of the royal family, was still a small child, and would not be able to rule for more than ten years. None of the ministers seemed to be occupied with much more than stuffing their own coffers with the royal treasury, and kept administration to a minimum. The army was largely useless anymore, as patrols between villages had been abandoned some time earlier, and the soldiers hardly ever left the capital or one of the forts from which they were supposed to be protecting the roadways and the smaller villages. This left lawless men and monsters free to wreak just the sort of injustice that had taken place here today.

Rusl stood, knowing there was nothing more they could do here, and the two men went back to the village.

When they passed through the village gates, Rusl and the mayor found their wives waiting with Sera, looking at the little boy, who was now awake and looking back at them with deep blue eyes.

He looked like he was around three years old, and Rusl wondered if he was talking yet or not. He turned to his wife, Uli. "Has he said anything?"

"Well, Marion asked him his name a few minutes ago, and he said 'Link', but so far, he hasn't said anything else." She gestured over at the mayor's wife, who was offering the little boy a piece of fruit, her daughter standing next to her.

Rusl drew Uli aside and quietly explained what he and Bo had found in the woods. She nodded sadly, and he continued. "But, we don't know that for sure. We'll keep a lookout for his parents, and we'll hope they come for him."

As the boy reached out to take the fruit, Rusl noticed a mark on his left hand. It was a symbol he knew very well from his time in Hyrule, a triangle made up of three smaller triangles. It was the symbol of the Triforce, and Rusl wondered why this boy had it on his hand.

Bo saw it, too, and whispered to Rusl. "What do you think it means?"

Rusl whispered back. "It means that if that mark is what I think it is, the Goddesses are watching over this boy, and probably guided him here. We should take care of him."

Bo smiled as he looked down at the boy. "He seems to have taken a liking to my Ilia." The mayor's daughter was about the same age as the boy, and she was sitting on the ground next to him and the foal. The boy had broken his slice of apple into thirds, and after giving one to the foal and eating another, he offered one to Ilia, who took it and gave it to the foal, also.

Bo's wife, Marion, came over to them. She touched her husband's arm. "We can take him in, can't we? If his parents don't come for him, we'll raise him as Ilia's brother."

The mayor gestured down at the boy. "He'll know he's different. If he asks, we'll tell him the truth once he's ready for it."

Marion held out her hand, and Ilia came over to her. The boy stood, and Marion smiled at him. "Come on, Link. You can come, too."

The boy took her other hand, and the villagers went with Bo and Marion up to their house. Rusl stayed behind a moment, smiling briefly as he watched the foal run after the boy. His face returned to a more serious expression as he looked back to the woods the boy had come from. He knew no one was likely to come and claim the child, from what he and Bo had found, and this saddened the former soldier.

He again thought of the marking on the boy's hand. What did it mean? Was this boy one of those chosen by the gods?

It likely meant that the boy had a great destiny in store for him, and Rusl resolved to make sure that Link was ready for it when it came.

-

* * *

Author's Note: An epilogue will follow. As always, please review and let me know what you thought. I was surprised at how many reviews the last chapter got, and in response to a few questions from readers, see Chapter 16 of 'The Fourth Piece' for an explanation of how the Yetis eventually moved into the manor. Any questions raised by this chapter will be resolved in 'The Fourth Piece', in case you caught my bit of foreshadowing there. The epilogue should be up by the end of the week.


	8. Epilogue

Epilogue

Years passed.

Link grew up in the small mountain village of Ordon, spending his first few years there living with Bo and his family. He knew from the beginning that they were not his family, but they treated him as if he were their own child. No sign of his parents was ever found beyond what Rusl and Bo had found the day he came to the village, and no one ever came to the village claiming to be his relative, so gradually, the boy came to view the people of Ordon as his family.

The first few years of his life in Ordon were largely uneventful for Link. People died, or moved away, and children were born. Link gradually became determined to learn all he could, to help out around the village more. He viewed it as repaying his debt to the people of Ordon for taking him in, and he sought to become as useful as he could to his adopted home.

First, he asked Rusl to teach him how to use a sword, so he could help defend the village and the goats from the occasional attacks by wild animals or monsters.

The former soldier was more than willing, and Link threw himself into the training, devoting his days to sparring with Rusl and practicing on his own and most of his nights to studying the manuals Rusl had brought back from the army. There was more than one night when Bo or Ilia would awaken and find Link asleep at the desk, his head resting on the book he was reading.

He devoted almost equal attention to riding, and as the foal he had been found with grew, he named her Epona. He had been riding from the time they were both ready for it, and the horse quickly became so accustomed to her rider that he barely had to give commands beyond an occasional nudge with his leg or tug with the reins, and she would instantly obey, understanding what he wanted her to do almost before he did.

A horse was of great use to the ranching community, but they had decided the day Link had come to the village that Epona belonged to Link alone. This was also decided later by the fact that Epona refused to let anyone but Link ride her unless he was present. Fado, one of the other boys in the village, learned this the hard way, and spent several weeks nursing his ankle after being thrown.

Life was fairly peaceful in Ordon, and not much news from Hyrule ever made it there, though occasional hints made their way through that the Golden Kingdom was not what it had once been. There was not much contact with anyone outside the province besides the occasional traveling merchant or the inevitable tax-collector.

When Link was twelve, already tough and increasingly self-sufficient, he started work on building his own house, aided by some of the other villagers. He selected an old tree just outside the main village, which he had discovered was hollow several years earlier. It was still alive, but there was more than enough space inside for a simple dwelling, all Link really wanted.

He worked on it in his spare time, and by the time he was fourteen, he had gotten it just the way he wanted it and moved in. Link had developed a solitary personality, and preferred to be by himself as much as he could.

He knew he was different, and not just because he was Hylian and everyone else in the village was human. There was something that set him apart from everyone else, and as he grew up, Link came to suspect that it had something to do with the triangle marking on his left hand.

No one seemed to know or was willing to tell him much about it, and though it had been there for as long as he could remember, Link got odd feelings sometimes, especially when he was fighting. This became more apparent one day when he was fifteen.

-

* * *

Link had just begun rounding up the goats at the ranch, to put them away for the night, when he heard distressed bleating and the unmistakable scream of a mountain lion.

He looked over to see several of the goats dashing about, panicked, and he put his heels to Epona's sides, heading over to the commotion.

The lean, muscular cat was chasing one of the goats, which was bleating frantically, and Epona dashed for the goat, suddenly coming between the mountain lion and its prey and giving the cat a kick in the side with her front hooves.

Link vaulted from the saddle, pulling out his wooden sword, and slashed the mountain lion across the nose before it could further react.

It backed off a couple paces, growling softly, and the big cat's eyes met Link's. He simply readied himself, totally unafraid of the predator. With agile quickness, it sprang for him, front paws outstretched and claws fully extended.

Link rolled to the side, and the big cat hit nothing but air. He slashed its back with his wooden sword, and it yowled in pain, spinning quickly to charge him again.

He lashed out with his sandaled foot and hit it square in the nose. He heard a sharp _crack_, but the cat was attacking again and he was knocked over by the force of its leap.

He pressed against the mountain lion, which almost weighed more than he did, digging his wooden sword into its neck and trying to keep its deadly teeth away from his neck, its clear target. With a sudden twist of his body, Link rolled the cat away and leaped to his feet, plunging the point of his wooden sword into its side.

It yowled in pain again, enraged, and sprang at Link again. He suddenly moved to the side, and almost before he could think about it, he was on the thing's back, his arms wrapped around the big cat's neck, trying to squeeze off its air.

Screaming and thrashing, it twisted about, trying to throw him off. Spying his sword laying nearby, Link allowed himself to fall off, and rolling to absorb the force of his landing, he came to a stop with his hand on the hilt of his wooden sword. Again almost without thinking, he raised his weapon and met the big cat's next spring, stabbing it in the chest.

The mountain lion landed hard, and struggled to its feet, looking over at the young ranch-hand with what looked like fear in its eyes. It scrambled off out of sight, and Link nearly gave chase to it, but he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned to see Rusl standing behind him, his sword drawn but hanging at his side. Several of the other villagers were gathered behind him, and most of them, the children especially, were regarding Link with a measure of awe.

Rusl patted his shoulder. "That was incredible, Link. I've never seen you do anything like that before."

Link was breathing hard, and he waited until he could talk to reply. "I don't think… I have done anything like that before."

"It won't be the last time, I'm afraid." Rusl gestured off back to the village. "Come on. You deserve a nice big dinner for that."

Link ate with Rusl and his family that night, and Rusl's son Colin kept the young ranch-hand busy with questions during the whole meal. Most of them were just about random topics, but Link answered with good humor. Of the three children in the village that were about the same age, he preferred spending time with Colin. The boy was somewhat timid, but he was friendly and honest, unlike the brash and sometimes irritating Talo.

After dinner, Rusl, Colin and Link went outside to sit on the family's porch, and looked out at the village bathed in the soft moonlight.

The former soldier gestured out at the view. "This is why I decided to move back here. It's so quiet out here at night. It's not like the city. In Castle Town, there's always noise, people moving around, even in the middle of the night." Rusl smiled over at his son and Link. "Nothing disturbs the peace out here."

Just then, there was a crash from the direction of Hanch and Sera's house, and annoyed shouting from the shopkeeper. The three of them chuckled.

When all had faded to silence again, the three of them sat looking up at the stars for a while. Rusl put his arm around his son and pointed up at the sky, indicating one of the constellations.

"See that, Colin? With the row of three stars close together, and the four near them like hands and feet? That's the Hero. Legend says that the Goddesses made the Hero constellation so that people would always remember those who served them and defended the people against evil."

Colin nodded, and turned as his mother opened the door to call him inside to get ready for bed. "Good night, Link," he said as he went inside.

"See you tomorrow," Link replied.

After the boy had gone inside, Rusl looked over at Link, his expression serious. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about, but not in front of my son. He is not yet ready to hear of such things."

"What is it?" Link asked.

"I saw what you did today, Link. You truly have a warrior's spirit. I was glad to see that you paid attention to what I taught you. With all your skills and strength, you have considerable power now. But listen to me when I say this: You must never misuse that power." He looked Link in the eye. "The duty of the strong is to protect the weak. Always remember that."

Link nodded. "I will."

Rusl gestured out at the village. "You must never hold those who are not warriors in contempt. A life of battle is not for everyone. The ideal world would be one where no one had to take up arms for any reason, but that is not the world we live in, Link. It seems our fate to be eternally besieged by a line of wicked people who would disrupt the world and twist it to their own ends.

"There will always be those who cannot defend themselves from such people. As a warrior, one who can defend himself, it is now your duty to protect them. If you can use your sword, an instrument of violence, to keep violence from being visited upon the innocent, then you have done something heroic."

Rusl gestured up at the constellation of the Hero again. "That is why the Heroes are so celebrated. They are the ultimate warriors, chosen to fight evils that ordinary men cannot hope to counter. Theirs is the greatest power; the courage necessary to face up to what would cause normal men to flee in terror."

He clapped Link on the shoulder. "You showed great courage today, Link. Keep up your practice, and remember what I told you."

Link thanked Rusl and headed off down the path toward his house. Later, once he was alone again, Link lay in his bed, looking at his hand in the moonlight that shone though his window. During the fight, he had never been afraid of the mountain lion. He had felt only the need to protect the goat from the predator, and his actions had been almost second nature, as if his body knew what to do without him thinking about it.

Link rolled over and closed his eyes. Maybe this was just what happened when you had a warrior's instincts. He put the thoughts out of his mind as he went to sleep.

-

* * *

Over the next few years, Link noticed more and more that he could move faster than Rusl when they sparred, and that he was stronger than the older man, as well. Unlike their early training, it was now rare that Rusl was able to beat Link, and even then it was usually because the older man took advantage of some trick of his that he had yet to teach the young man.

Rusl joked sometimes that he was just getting older, and Link was still young and in the prime of his life. But Link still caught concerned looks from his teacher occasionally after a particularly fierce sparring match. As he got older and stronger, Link sometimes had trouble restraining himself, and more and more he began to suspect that there was definitely something different about himself, something almost superhuman.

Link was content in Ordon, he decided, and was happy doing his chores and spending time with his surrogate family. He sometimes craved adventure, wondering what life was like outside Ordona Province, which he hadn't left since being found by the villagers, but tending the goats and helping in the harvest was a fairly peaceful life.

One evening, he and Rusl sat by the spring in Faron Woods, resting for a few minutes on their way back from gathering wood. It was late in the day, and the sun was setting. The water in the spring reflected the colors of the sunset, and the general feeling in the forest was one of peace.

"Tell me," Rusl said, "do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls? They say it's the only time our world intersects with theirs… The only time we can feel the lingering regrets of those who have left our world. That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight."

He turned to look over at Link. "But, enough talk of sadness. I have a favor to ask of you, Link. I was supposed to deliver something to the royal family of Hyrule the day after tomorrow. Yes, it was a task set to me by the mayor, but… would you go in my stead? You have… never been to Hyrule, right?"

Link was thoughtful for a long moment. He hadn't ever been to Hyrule, or indeed north of Faron Woods in his life that he could remember. He'd heard stories of Hyrule, and had wondered what it was like there.

Rusl continued. "In the kingdom of Hyrule there is a great castle, and around it is Castle Town, a community far bigger than our little village." He paused for a moment. "And far bigger than Hyrule is the rest of the world the gods created. You should look upon it all with your own eyes." Rusl got to his feet. "It is getting late. We should head back to the village. I will talk to the mayor about this matter."

Link followed Rusl back to the village, guiding Epona across the bridge, and was deep in thought as they headed back to Ordon. Going to Hyrule sounded like fun, and would undoubtedly be an interesting experience. He looked forward to the trip, and wondered what adventures awaited him along the way.

_The Beginning..._

* * *

Final Author's Notes and Acknowledgements: Writing this story was an interesting experiment. Most of what I write is heavy on the action, focusing on big, epic fights and suspense, and to do something a little simpler, more character-focused than action-focused, was a good learning experience for me. This was also my first attempt at tragedy, and I was a little reluctant to write the last two chapters.

As I believe I mentioned in one of my previous author's notes, I had spent the story up till Chapter 6 describing the hopes, dreams, and history of the Fenris family, telling the tale of Link's parents, and starting with that chapter, everything starts to go wrong for these characters I had created, ending with them being driven from the home they worked for and their son ending up alone, remembering nothing of them.

The story had to end this way, to agree with the events of 'Twilight Princess', one of my favorite Zelda games, and indeed, one of my favorite games in general. The story of that game struck a chord with me, and I've just felt the urge to fill out some backstory for the game and one of its more intriguing dungeons. Personally, I hope an official explanation for the Snowpeak Ruins never comes out, as I've grown rather attached to mine. ;)

This story is intended as a prelude to 'Twilight Princess', though it was more about Link's family than Link himself. It also serves as an introduction to the saga of the Fenris family, which I've decided will be the connecting theme of most of my future stories. The tale in Chapter 4 of the Hero of Lightning will be expanded out into a proper story, that of the first Fenris, but that will be after I finish my current epic, 'The Fourth Piece', which is a sequel to 'Twilight Princess'. This story also fills out a few details that wouldn't really fit in that story, and will be important to the plot in coming chapters, so I hope you paid attention. ;)

Now for the acknowledgements: First off, major thanks goes to my beta reader, Seldavia, whose suggestions and critiques improved the story greatly. It would undoubtedly be not even half as good without her help, and I'm deeply grateful for it. If you liked this story, go check out hers, especially the ones on my Favorites list.

Next, major thanks also goes to you, the readers, especially those of you who took the time to review. Writing on this site is a learning process for me, and I appreciate all feedback, good and bad, as ways I can improve my writing. I'm also glad other people were able to enjoy something I wrote, since, if not for this site, nobody but me would ever read this, anyway.

Thanks for reading!

Davin Sunrider


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